Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West

If you're a specialist in environmental history, you'd almost have to read this book at some point, or at least be familiar with its contribution and arguments. Worster has written a powerful critique of western settlement, agribusiness, and the politics of the "water wars." Works well with Cadillac Desert.

I needed this book for a historiographical review...I found the author to be redundant and sanctimonious. The author could easily have gotten his point across in far fewer pages and a lot less time. And, his word usage is awkward at best.

Difficult to wade through. The information was interesting but it was slow going, in my opinion.

okay

good info on an important subject. not that it's anything like a vollmann book, but if you liked 'empire' you should check this out.

The central argument Worster tries to make in here is that the "hydraulic society" of the American West has somehow created an antidemocracy in which technocrats and plutocrats run everything. He asserts in his his book that "everything begins and ends with water." If you accept this premise, his text has some interesting points, but the logical leaps required to accept the premise are difficult to make. As much as anything this book seems to be an attack on capitalism, but even that does not hold up because at different points in the text the author both highlights the need to get the power "into the hands of as many people as possible" and the problems people have in making self-regulated decisions. The general ecological message is still reasonably sound - learn to live with nature and don't fight it or dominate it to the point of damage - but the rest of the book is confusing and suffering from an overly narrow focus. Read it if you have to, but be aware of what you are getting in to.

quick shipper, item as advertised, Thanks!

"Rivers of Empire" is a powerful reinterpretation of the American West, which it treats as the latest in a series of "hydraulic civilizations" (such as ancient Sumer or Egypt) that are decisively shaped by the need to build and maintain vast irrigation systems. At the core of the book is the story of the Bureau of Reclamation, a federal agency set up in 1902 to "reclaim" Western desert wastelands by diverting riverwater to small farmers resettled from the East. Thus intended, the Bureau would have promoted growth by creating opportunities for landless poor people. Instead, it was quickly misappropriated by huge agribusiness interests (especially in California), which clamored for heavily-subsidized irrigation water even if that meant reinforcing existing class hierarchies and damming or destroying most of the major rivers in the West. The book's story of capitalist greed and vandalism is embedded in a larger meditation on man's relationship to nature and the need to eschew philosophies that treat nature as a commodity. The writing is alternately lyrical and angry, and the historical and political analysis is sharp. "Rivers of Empire" is superb.

Bad print quality..