Battling the Inland Sea: Floods, Public Policy, and the Sacramento Valley

Book Description

In its natural condition the Sacramento Valley was a flood-ravaged region where an inland sea a hundred miles long regularly formed during the rainy season, to drain slowly away by the summer months. Today the Valley is marvelously productive, with a great capital city at its center, but only after a seventy-year struggle to devise and build an intricate thousand miles of levees and drains. Robert Kelley sets that battle within the encompassing national political culture, which produced, through the Republican and Democratic parties, widely diverging ideas about how best to reclaim the Valley from flood. He draws on approaches developed in the field of policy analysis to examine the relationship between American political culture and environmental policy-making. We find that the prolonged controversy over the Sacramento Valley illuminates American decision-making, then and now.

Customer Reviews:

An inspired overview of the political cultural of California water politics.......2007-07-22

I was deeply influenced by Kelley's early works on hydraulic mining in the 1950s (his book Gold vs. Grain and his papers such as the Forgotten Giant: ...Hydraulic Mining...). I also heard strong praise for this book from many water professionals in the Sacramento Valley. As I eagerly read this book, therefore, I expected more of the same: a study of the massive impact that hydraulic mining sedimentation had on California rivers, flooding, and politics in the late nineteenth century.
Fortunately - I was surprised to learn - Battling the Inland Sea (BIS) goes well beyond the physical and political effects of historical sedimentation in several important ways. This book is much broader in its geographic extent and substantive scope than Kelley's earlier works. Geographically, mining sediment primarily impacted the lowermost Sacramento River (below Fremont Weir) and its Sierra Nevada tributaries (especially the Feather, Yuba, Bear, and American Rivers). BIS is more broadly concerned with flood control in the Sacramento Valley up into and beyond the extensive Colusa and Butte Basins which had relatively little impact from mining sediment. Moreover, the emphasis of the discussion in BIS is on the history of flood control efforts in the Valley and the surrounding political culture of flood control. Although these topics are inseparable from the mining sediment issue in some areas, it is a much broader topic involving a set of deeper issues. In fact, Kelley makes it clear from the outset that the Sacramento Valley was prone to extensive flooding and that the natural river channel was incapable of conveying but a small fraction of the flow during large floods; long before mining sediment arrived. This emphasis is key to understanding the importance of BIS to educating both professional river managers and the lay public to the actual flood risks in the Valley. The long history of flood control in the Sacramento Valley represents a fight against nature. Mining sedimentation is a complication that exacerbates an already intractable flood-prone situation, but it is not the primary cause of flood risk. Extensive low-lying basins are the inherent cause for concern.
The common ground between BIS and Kelley's earlier work is that he, again, presents an inspired historical overview of the political culture underlying California water politics. The complex developments of the period are put into a context of shifting ideologies of resource management, perception of nature, and the vagaries of politics and economics.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in these broader topics. It is, of course, a must-read for students of California flood-management history.
Allan James
Geography Department
University South Carolina

Battling the Inland Sea.......2006-03-26

This book clarifies man's failure to accept what the Natural Environment offers and man's limited knowledge of his ability to live with nature. Man's ineptness is exemplified by politics dictating his actions.

Fascinating History of the Sacramento Valley.......2002-02-28

If you've ever taken a guided factory tour, you know the difference between someone reciting memorized facts and someone who can call upon a deep reservoir of knowledge, accumulated over a lifetime, for information that will illuminate a particular subject. Mr. Kelley clearly belongs in the latter class. Reading his book, it is apparent that we are only scratching the surface of what this remarkable historian knows about the complex interplay of history, politics, personality and nature that conspired to produce the water system northern California has today.

The story of California water is fascinating, although perhaps only of real interest to Californians. Nevertheless, even if only for that audience, Mr. Kelley has written an entirely readable, yet simultaneously scholarly volume. Anyone interested in an introduction to the state of northern California's water situation should begin with this book.

In a general sense, however, this book is also about changing political and sociological trends in America beginning around 1850. The focus is on flooding in the Sacramento Valley, and its battles between gold miners and valley farmers, or between Republican engineers and Democratic populists, but parallels are probably found elsewhere in our country during the same period of history. I enjoyed this book tremendously.

Essentially the same book as "Gold v. Grain".......2000-10-24

I am a big California rivers environmental history buff, and I found this book to be too similar to his publication "Gold v. Grain" which debuted over 40 years ago. This book is essentially an extension of "Gold v. Grain" that covers the 1960s-1980s. Much of the earlier chapters are virtually cut and pasted verbatim from his previous book. Despite these criticisms, it remains (to my knowledge) the most comprehensive book written about the Sacramento River to date. Until a better book on the Sac comes along, this is probably the one to read for factual information, and for more conceptual/abstract stimulation, I recommend "Organic Machine" by Richard White.

Comprehensive but compelling.......1999-12-13

For a native of the flood-prone Sacramento Valley, Battling The Inland Sea is the bible. Nowhere else is the history of a fitful battle against the annual floodwaters unleashed on the Sacramento Valley by the powerful Sierra Nevada watersheds captured so comprehensively. Kelley, however, informs us in a style that is relevant and entertaining. The valley resident treasures it for its history of the Big Fight. Political scientists enjoy it for its history and the lively way Kelley uses the fight over flooding in Northern California as a study in California and national politics.

Battling the Inland Sea: American Political Culture, Public Policy, and the Sacramento Valley, 1850-1986

Average customer rating:

A Fascinating History of the Sacramento Valley

Battling the Inland Sea: American Political Culture, Public Policy, and the Sacramento Valley, 1850-1986
Robert Kelley
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Battling the Inland Sea: Floods, Public Policy, and the Sacramento Valley

ASIN: 0520064879

Book Description

Customer Reviews:

A Fascinating History of the Sacramento Valley.......2000-06-13

Customer Reviews:

review.......2007-01-10

The author describes numerous useful aspects of the cultural and historical attractions of areas along the Inside Passage. My only complaint is that I would like to see more maps with greater detail.

Compass American Guides: Alaska, 3rd Edition (Compass American Guides)

Average customer rating:

Best Alaska guidebook: gives history, culture, photos

Compass American Guides: Alaska, 3rd Edition (Compass American Guides)
John A. Murray
Manufacturer: Compass America Guides
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Look Inside Travel Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 0679008381
Release Date: 2001-03-27

Book Description

Created by local writers and photographers, Compass American Guides are the ultimate insider's guides, providing in-depth coverage of the history, culture and character of America's most spectacular destinations. Covering everything there is to see and do as well as choice lodging and dining, these gorgeous full-color guides are perfect for new and longtime residents as well as vacationers who want a deep understanding of the region they're visiting.

?Outstanding color photography, plus a wealth of archival images
?Topical essays and literary extracts
?Detailed color maps
?Great ideas for things to see and do
?Capsule reviews of hotels and restaurants

Customer Reviews:

Best Alaska guidebook: gives history, culture, photos.......2000-05-14

This is the best guidebook I've seen about Alaska. Its an illustrated introduction that lures you into the wilds of Alaska with amazing, artistic photography. It provides background, history, insight, and discusses things to do that don't fit into the cookie-cutter format of other guidebook series.

The photography is beautiful and artistic, printed in a format just large enough to give you some idea of the grandeur of Alaska without making the book too unwieldy to take along on your trip. Also included are historical drawings, sketches, and high-quality maps. Its humorous in parts (what is a "sourdough"?).

This book goes beyond the normal guidebook which might list town, lodging and restaurants. It starts off with a fascinating history of the entire state, a discussion of the people of Alaska, the wildlife; then discusses four major areas of Alaska (and their history, people, etc.). It helps you get to know the state.

The descriptions of food, lodging and tours are adequate, but you may want to supplement these listing with a AAA guidebook or travel agent.

Average customer rating:

Exactly what we were looking for...

Compass American Guides: Alaska, 4th Edition (Compass American Guides)
Fodor's
Manufacturer: Compass America Guides
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Fodor's Alaska 2007 (Fodor's Gold Guides)

Frommer's Alaska 2007 (Frommer's Complete Guides)

Compass American Guides: Ohio, 1st Edition (Compass American Guides)

Compass American Guides: Minnesota, 3rd Edition (Compass American Guides)

Compass American Guides: Michigan, 2nd Edition (Compass American Guides)

ASIN: 1400014816
Release Date: 2005-05-03

Customer Reviews:

Exactly what we were looking for..........2007-06-01

This is the perfect book for our driving trip to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. Of all the guide books we purchased, this is the most helpful. Wouldn't go without it!

Compass American Guides Alaskas Inside Passage

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Compass American Guides Alaskas Inside Passage
Compass
Manufacturer: COMPASS AMERICAN GUIDES
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WSC42M

Compass American Guides: Alaska, 5th Edition (Compass American Guides)

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Compass American Guides: Alaska, 5th Edition (Compass American Guides)
Fodor's
Manufacturer: Fodor's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

The book is in five parts: Part I introduces the physical and chemical structure of polymers and their breakdown; Part II reviews electrical degradation in polymers, and Part III reviews conduction and deterministic breakdown in solids. Part IV discusses the stochastic nature of break-down from empirical and modelling viewpoints, and Part V indicates practical implications and strategies for engineers. Much of the discussion applies to non-crystalline materials generally.

Book Description

The aim of this volume is to make available to a large audience recent material in nonlinear functional analysis that has not been covered in book format before. Here, several topics of current and growing interest are systematically presented, such as fixed point theory, best approximation, the KKM-map principle, and results related to optimization theory, variational inequalities and complementarity problems. Illustrations of suitable applications are given, the links between results in various fields of research are highlighted, and an up-to-date bibliography is included to assist readers in further studies.
Audience: This book will be of interest to graduate students, researchers and applied mathematicians working in nonlinear functional analysis, operator theory, approximations and expansions, convex sets and related geometric topics and game theory.

Customer Reviews:

Fixed point theory and best approximation.......2000-04-22

This is a good book on the study of fixed points in terms of applying kkm theory. Authors focus on the study of fixed point and related best approximation theory by using the concept of the KKM mapping. This book contains the most classic results on both metric fixed point and topological fixed point results. It is a good reference for people who want to know what kind of fixed point existrence theorems available for their applications in nonlinear analysis and associated subjects.

KKM Theory and Applications in Nonlinear Analysis (Pure and Applied Mathematics)

Average customer rating:

Not for the faint-of-heart economist
KKM Theory and Applications in Nonlinear Analysis

KKM Theory and Applications in Nonlinear Analysis (Pure and Applied Mathematics)
George Xian-Zhi Yuan
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

This reference provides a lucid introduction to the principles and applications of Knaster-Kuratowski-Mazurkiewicz (KKM) theory and explores related topics in nonlinear set-valued analysis.

Customer Reviews:

Not for the faint-of-heart economist.......2000-08-24

Great book. It is systematic in scope, and the presentation feels right and natural. There are a few interesting surprises, and generally the author stays within himself and doesn't get bogged down in application specific problems.

An economist cracking this one should know enough topology and functional analysis to pass a graduate course in these areas. One of the defects for the potential economist looking for new vistas is that the material is fundamentally from a topological point of view, and utilizes very abstract notions like H-spaces. Structures such as these lose economic connotation and meaning by their generality.

Here's to you.

KKM Theory and Applications in Nonlinear Analysis.......2000-04-22

This is the first comprehensive book on KKM theory and its various applications in nonlinear analysis itself, mathematical economics, game theory and optiomization. The author provides a hudge number of reference resources from the beginning of this subject to the present stage in this new field. It is a best studying and reference book on KKM theory for those people who want to gain knowldege in this exciting subject. It is also a necessary handbook for people working in their Ph.D degree and for research in applied nonlinear analysis and its applications to mathematical economics, game theory and optimization.

KKM Theory and Applications in Nonlinear Analysis (Pure and Applied Mathematics (Marcel Dekker))

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KKM Theory and Applications in Nonlinear Analysis (Pure and Applied Mathematics (Marcel Dekker))
George Xian-Zhi Yuan
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MU9HVG

Book Description

The most inclusive and comprehensive selection of Nerval's brilliant poems, memoirs, fictions, and essays ever to appear in English.

Charles Baudelaire regarded Nerval as the most lucid poet of the age, and Marcel Proust ranked him as one of its greatest prose writers. Andre Breton claimed Nerval as the precursor of Surrealism, and Antonin Artaud placed him in the same visionary company as Friedrich Nietzsche and Vincent van Gogh. This selection of writings provides an overview of Nerval's work as a poet, belletrist, short-story writer, and autobiographer. In addition to "Aurelia," the memoir of his madness, "Sylvie" (considered a "masterpiece" by Proust), and the hermetic sonnets of "The Chimeras," this volume includes Nerval's doppelgnger tales and experimental fictions. Selections from his correspondence demonstrate a lucid awareness of the strategies by which nineteenth-century psychiatry consigned his visionary imagination to the purgatory of mental illness. This volume will confirm Nerval's major place in literary history as much more than the amiable eccentric who walked live lobsters on blue ribbons through the streets of Paris.

Customer Reviews:

Nerval's eccentricities and mental illness.......2007-06-24

I'm in a constant search for writers with mental illness.
Gerard de Nerval fits the bill and as a 19th Century
French writer bent on eccentricities and called bousingos or
'rowdies' known for their orgies, eating ice cream out of skulls,
nudity at seminars. Nerval went insane and spent the rest of
his life in and out of an asylum and eventually killed himself......the end
of his considered greatest work Aurelia was in his pocket was found
in his pocket when he hung himself. Aurelia is his account of his
fall into madness. I'm going to read it again. I read everything only
once, i'll start re-reading with this book.

The Ruined Tower.......2003-03-22

Nerval was the Mother of All Bohemians, a romantic eccentric who set the stage for latter-day zanies from Arthur Rimbaud to John Wieners. His most famous stunt was parading through Paris with a lobster, explaining to his friends: "He does not bark, and he knows the secrets of the deep." With the beautiful, dense, enigmatic poems in 'The Chimeras' he virtually invented literary Modernism, while 'Aurelia' is one of the most touching accounts of schizophrenia ever written (the book is worth it for these two pieces alone, along with the proto-Proustian 'Sylvie'). Nerval's tragic disintegration, ending in suicide in 1855, seems to mark the point where Romanticism turned from fantasy and Nature to madness and derangement, a pattern that still plays out in our culture in a hundred different ways. Sieburth's a little intrusive with the prefaces and footnotes--he seems anxious you might not 'get' Nerval without his help. The sections are also arranged thematically instead of chronologically, which makes it hard to trace his development as a writer. But the notes include plenty of useful biographical information, and for the money it's easily the best selection of Nerval's writings in English. A great intro to a fascinating writer.

An excellent phantasmagoric collection!.......2000-06-29

I came upon this volume by chance, after it won a translation prize from PEN, but was glad I did. Nerval seems to take up a curious position in literary history, and though is something of an eccentric, he was loved by later writers (Proust) and by artists (Joseph Cornell). The stories are strange and fantastic, travel narratives which are more journeys of the mind than actual travels. Anyone with an interest in the surreal, or in the fabular fictions of Calvino or Borges, will find these stories a delight. The stories raise questions about identity, sanity and madness, and linguisticly are truly alluring.

Also included are a number of poems and letters, which combined with the prose pieces present a great picture of the author's whole work. It seems like the best place to start for anyone who has not read Nerval before, but I'm sure that dedicated enthusiasts will find new pleasure in the excellent translation and the lucid editorial expositions that Richard Sieburth provides throughout the text.

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