About this title: This is a history of the American West which recounts one of America's most impressive achievements - the creation of an Eden out of inhospitable desert. "Cadillac Desert" recounts this dramatic saga: from the earliest settlers lured by promises of paradise, to Jon Wesley Powell's advocacy of co-operative irrigation projects; from the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles to raid watersheds hundreds of miles away to sustain its phenomenal growth, to the federal government's entry into the water business. Reisner offers a bleak portrait of the future the West faces: over the next fifty ...
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Description: Very good. By Marc Reisner; ISBN: 0140178244; Pub. : Penguin (Non-Classics); Pub. Date: 1993-01-01; Media: Paperback; Weight: 18.4 oz.; (151JZ11050911) 1993 SOFTCOVER EDITION WITH 582 PAGES, VERY CRISP AND CLEAN BOOK WITH SLIGHT SCUFFING ON COVER. by Marc Reisner; ISBN: 0140178244; Pub. : Penguin (Non-Classics); Pub. Date: 1993-01-01; Media: Paperback; Weight: 18.4 oz.; (151JZ11050911) 1993 SOFTCOVER EDITION WITH 582 PAGES, VERY CRISP AND CLEAN BOOK WITH SLIGHT SCUFFING ON COVER. read more
Edition: Revised and Updated ed.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780140178241ISBN:0140178244
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Clean, tight and square with light cover wear, no writing or marks, light tanning to page edges. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 582 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: New in None as Issued jacket. / 0140178244. Pristine condition. Jacket crisp clean. Gift Quality We track every shipment w/Post Office. read more
Edition: Revised
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: PENGUIN GROUP
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780140178241ISBN:0140178244
Description: Newly updated, this timely history of the struggle to discover and control water in the American West is a tale of rivers diverted and damned, political corruption and intrigue, billion-dollar battles over water rights, and economic and ecological di... read more
"I'd probably give this 3 stars for me personally, because it wasn't quite what I thought it would be and I wasn't terribly engaged in the topic. But if you're interested in the history of the politics of water, it's a 5. Well written and often funny. I was expecting more on environmental impact, but that's scattered and minimal. While the devastation of the West, in particular, and the untenable state we're in is the ultimate result of the actions he chronicles, the actions themselves are the focus of the book."
"I wish the book were more current however the astute follower of the water issues in our country today should be able to pick up where Reisner leaves off. It is fun to view the areas spoken of in the book with Google Earth, while reading about them. Follow American's great rivers and see the stair-stepping dams in succession. See the snaking aqueducts and the islands of green they create in the middle of barren deserts. This book does indeed make you stop and think but the genie is out of the bottle, there is no going back."
"This nonfiction account of our society's utter failure to manage our water resources is the best nonfiction book I've read since I was 16 and obsessed with Carl Sagan. Read it if you've ever appreciated a wild and scenic river, if you want to know how LA became a sprawling mess, if you want to know how the Grand Coulee Dam made world war II winable, and if you want to know how big dams helped bring down Jimmy Carter's presidency. This book is awesome and terrible. I read this book over a year ago and I still think about it most days."
"Why would anyone read a 500 page book about irrigation and dam building? If you are curious why Los Angeles has a population of 10 million, and why California has one of the richest economies in the world, this book has the answers. What began as an attempt to deliver water to poor, struggling farmers, became a nearly unstoppable machine that made wealthy men richer, concentrated political power in the hands of a few, and made a mockery of the notion that our country is based on a free-market economy.
The Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers have built thousands of dams in the past hundred years. Some of them made sense-- they provide hydroelectric power, help flood control, irrigate land, and provide drinking water to cities. But many more dams are economic boondoggles, constructed primarily for political favors, subsidized by taxpayer dollars, and ruining the land that it is supposed to help.
There is a lot of doom and gloom in this book, but the afterward to the revised edition leaves us with hope. The values of our society have changed, and new dam projects have largely ceased. Part of it is due to the fact that few economically feasible projects remain, though that didn't stop us in the past. But with the population in the American West continuing to grow and aquifers rapidly depleting, an upcoming water crisis looms in our future. What will we do? Will we continue in our profligate ways and become water imperialists, taking advantage of our proximity to Canada and diverting their vast quantities of "unused" rivers? Or are we going to change our policies, eliminate waste and perverse subsidies, make farmers pay market prices for their water, and retire land kept alive by taxpayer money? Can we overcome powerful lobbies that maintain the status quo? Can individual states (and their congressional representatives) focus on the greater good and welfare of their constituents beyond the next election cycle? Successful and lasting change will only come about through great debate and even greater compromise. We will be forced to sacrifice certain goods for the sake of others, but there is really no alternative. Protecting our water supply will require a tremendous restructuring of both energy policy and the agricultural industry. The future is uncertain but potential for positive change is exciting.
My only complaint about this book is that it is too long. One could cut 100 pages without losing any of the power that it packs. Still, it is a tremendous resource-- informing the general reader about a poorly understood aspect our past, and warning us that business as usual will end badly for all of us. The time to act is now."
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