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First published in 1926, the novel Show Boat by Edna Ferber (1887-1936) illustrates life on a floating playhouse, one that travels the Mississippi and its tributaries to bring theater performances to people who live in towns along the rivers.

Ferber based the novel on her experiences of the summer of 1925, which she spent on the James Adams Floating Theater. Her continued correspondence with Charles Hunter, captain of the James Adams, provided further material. She valued his help so much that, after the novel became a bestseller, Ferber sent Hunter a large check in appreciation for his help.

Ferber was a popular novelist of the 1920s, and Show Boat was a hit in its turn. Its vivid river descriptions and its sense of life along the Mississippi during the time made it a best-seller. Also, the love story between Magnolia, the chief female character, and Gaylord, a charming riverboat gambler, is captivating. The villainous behavior of Gaylord—who gambles away his wife's inheritance, then leaves her and their child—was atypical for novels of the time but did not harm its popularity.

The novel was also controversial, for three reasons. First, Tom Taggart, a former U.S. Senator from Illinois, objected to his name being given to a character who owned a gambling casino. Within two weeks of the book's first release, with 135,000 copies sold or in stores, Taggart threatened Doubleday, the publishers, with a lawsuit for damages. Doubleday staff stopped the presses and inserted another name of equal length in the remaining print run, staving off Taggart's lawsuit but infuriating Ferber, who was traveling, when she learned of it. Second, a cardinal of the Catholic Church objected to a sexual innuendo directed at the Chicago archdiocese. This time, Ferber was in the United States and refused to be intimidated by the possible suit, so the reference was unchanged.

Third, the novel sensitively presents marriage between people of different races. At a point when the novel's actions take place in the 1870s, the leading actress Julie is secretly half-black and openly married to Steve, a white actor also in the company. Their marriage violates many of the Jim Crow laws in the states along the Mississippi where the boat travels. When a white sheriff threatens to arrest Julie for the crime, Steve cuts her arm and swallows a few drops of her blood, thus becoming someone with "black blood" as well. In doing this, Steve shows a spousal love and lack of prejudice remarkable for the novel's setting.

For some audiences today, and for some of her own time, such as Dorothy Parker, all of Ferber's writing is longwinded and has unreasonably happy endings. But Show Boat was a best-seller as a novel and became a popular Broadway musical (1927) as well. In addtion, two movies were made of the story in 1936 and 1951. The musical is still revived today, and the novel has been reprinted as recently as 1981, demontrating audience's continued interest in her work.

—Clare Callaghan