{"product_id":"rivers-of-empire-water-aridity-and-the-growth-of-the-american-west-9780195078060","title":"Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West","description":"When Henry David Thoreau went for his daily walk, he would consult his instincts on which direction to follow. More often than not his inner compass pointed west or southwest. The future lies that way to me, he explained, and the earth seems more unexhausted and richer on that side. In\u003cbr\u003ehis own imaginative way, Thoreau was imitating the countless young pioneers, prospectors, and entrepreneurs who were zealously following Horace Greeley's famous advice to go west. Yet while the epic chapter in American history opened by these adventurous men and women is filled with stories of\u003cbr\u003efrontier hardship, we rarely think of one of their greatest problems--the lack of water resources. And the same difficulty that made life so troublesome for early settlers remains one of the most pressing concerns in the western states of the late-twentieth century. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe American West, blessed with an abundance of earth and sky but cursed with a scarcity of life's most fundamental need, has long dreamed of harnessing all its rivers to produce unlimited wealth and power. In \u003cem\u003eRivers of Empire\u003c\/em\u003e, award-winning historian Donald Worster tells the story of this dream\u003cbr\u003eand its outcome. He shows how, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Mormons were the first attempting to make that dream a reality, damming and diverting rivers to irrigate their land. He follows this intriguing history through the 1930s, when the federal government built hundreds of dams on\u003cbr\u003eevery major western river, thereby laying the foundation for the cities and farms, money and power of today's West. Yet while these cities have become paradigms of modern American urban centers, and the farms successful high-tech enterprises, Worster reminds us that the costs have been extremely\u003cbr\u003ehigh. Along with the wealth has come massive ecological damage, a redistribution of power to bureaucratic and economic elites, and a class conflict still on the upswing. As a result, the future of this hydraulic West is increasingly uncertain, as water continues to be a scarce resource, \u003cbr\u003einadequate to the demand, and declining in quality. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cem\u003eRivers of Empire\u003c\/em\u003e represents a radically new vision of the American West and its historical significance. Showing how ecological change is inextricably intertwined with social evolution, and reevaluating the old mythic and celebratory approach to the development of the West, Worster offers the most\u003cbr\u003eprobing, critical analysis of the region to date. He shows how the vast region encompassing our western states, while founded essentially as colonies, have since become the true seat of the American Empire. How this imperial West rose out of desert, how it altered the course of nature there, and\u003cbr\u003ewhat it has meant for Thoreau's (and our own) mythic search for freedom and the American Dream, are the central themes of this eloquent and thought-provoking story--a story that begins and ends with water.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Donald Worster\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/18\/1992\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 416\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.29lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.20h x 6.14w x 1.13d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780195078060\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDonald Worster\u003c\/strong\u003e, who won the Bancroft Prize for his book \u003cem\u003eDust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s\u003c\/em\u003e, is Hall Distinguished Professor of American History at the University of Kansas. He is also the author of \u003cem\u003eThe Ends of the Earth, Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas\u003c\/em\u003e, and the forthcoming \u003cem\u003eUnder Western Skies: Nature and History in the American West\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis title is not returnable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":40008388182131,"sku":"9.7802E+12","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_2dc9c3a4-b401-480b-942f-09ddace12e49.jpg?v=1650385031","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/products\/rivers-of-empire-water-aridity-and-the-growth-of-the-american-west-9780195078060","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}