Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition

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The definitive history of water resources in the American West, and a very illuminating lesson in the political economy of limited resources anywhere. Highly recommended!

Book Description

Part One Of Two Parts

The story of the American West is the story of the relentless quest to control and allocate nature's most common, and the West's most precious, resource: water. CADILLAC DESERT recounts this dramatic saga.

The early settlers were lured by free land. But there was not enough water to sustain them, and they drifted on. Only the Mormons stayed, carefully tending a system of irrigation canals that tempered perpetual drought. Their success gave birth to federal aid programs, principally the Bureau of Reclamation. Without the bureau, without Hoover, Shasta and Grand Coulee, the West as we know it would not exist.

Customer Reviews:

Every American needs to read this book........2007-09-07

Or anyone thinking about moving/living west of the 100th meridian.

One of the best modern non-fiction books ever written, period.

Essential reading for our time.......2007-08-23

AKA...those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. It's essential reading on the mismanagement of arguably our most critical resource: drinking water.

Meticulously researched and quite well written, it's rare to find a non-fiction book that can be classified a page-turner, but this it it.

never dry!.......2007-08-20

The American experiment in democracy has degenerated into a plutocracy, in which wealth and power preempt democracy's ideals of equality and freedom [cf Kevin Phillips' Wealth & Democracy]. While Phillips gives a depressing history of the decline, and its corruption thru the centuries, Cadillac Desert focuses on perhaps the biggest corrupter of all - the sprawling water projects of the American West, in which water is diverted at huge cost to grow crops no one needs, all to support giant corporations that threaten to wipe out the family farms that were the rationale for the projects in the first place. Taken together, these books demonstrate that ideology or the party in power matters little - elections become a charade, masking the control of government by capital and its corporate controllers.

History as entertainment.......2007-07-21

Many people often find history to be a boring subject, whether in school, as a TV show, or as dinner conversation. And within the broad subject of history, few are considered as boring as the topic of public works. Wars, great leaders, sex scandals, spy stories, and scientific revolutions are the common topics of history shows and history best-sellers. Yet so few history books are as entertaining or enjoyable as this tome from the now-deceased Marc Reisner. This book's subject matter is man's attempts to control water flow in the US west of the Appalachias. This includes dams, canals, reservoirs, river diversions, and numerous other public works projects related to water. Some mention is made of irrigation by Native Americans, but most of the text is on public works done in the 20th century by the US federal government, and occasionally some state governments. The book explores the politics (local and national) behind various dams and other projects, and shows how these human constructions affected local economies and ecologies. Names like Hoover Dam, Grand Teton Dam, Central Arizona Project, and San Joaquin Valley are covered here. The author also highlights key individuals involved in dams throughout US history; such as LBJ, Floyd Dominy, Carl Hayden, and John Powell.

The book's chapters flow in a chronological order, with some chapters backtracking in time to cover different regions of the US. The text itself flows quickly and is written very well with the author taking time to include comedy in the form of irony, shortsightedness and outright stupidity on the part of many public servants. Several black and white photos provide the only illustrations. The only drawback of the book is the paucity of maps. Many of the rivers mentioned in the text are not immediately recognizable to the lay reader. But all in all, I consider this one of the best history books of the 1990's.

An essential, action-packed story of water policy (yes, you read that right).......2006-11-27

In "Cadillac Desert," Marc Reisner tells the story of how the American West destroyed its rivers with unnecessary dams. Environmentalists are often accused of opposing economic growth, but Reisner shows that the dam-builders - - and not their opponents - - were the ones ignoring economic criteria. As a result of the "beaver complex" of the Bureau of Reclamation and the US Army Corps of Engineers, we have a bunch of money-losing dams providing subsidized water to grow subsidized crops at high prices.

In other words, the beavers destroy wealth and jobs at the same time they destroy rivers, wetlands, and Indian reservations. Indirectly, they also contribute to the farm crisis in wetter areas such as the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys and the eastern seaboard.

It would be easy to unleash an army of econometricians to document the phenomenal waste of these dams. However, Reisner manages to provide us with an action narrative of these two out-of-control bureaucracies and a demented, pork-addled legislature. Let me repeat this, because it's the most remarkable feature of the book: an action narrative of two bureaucracies. The man can write.

He also gives us capsule biographies of leading figures - - including a full chapter on Floyd Dominy, the high priest of dam building. These people destroyed our rivers, not in the pursuit of growth, but in the pursuit of corporate welfare and back-room deals that move wealth around without creating any new wealth. Every environmentalist and anti-environmentalist needs to read the book.

In short, this is a riveting story, very well told. Not only is it highly recommended, but I join with many other reviewers in saying that this book should be required reading for all American citizens.

Cadillac Desert - The American West And Its Disappearing Water, Revised and Updated

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Cadillac Desert - The American West And Its Disappearing Water, Revised and Updated
Marc Reisner
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OB8F4I

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Cadillac Desert - The American West And Its Disappearing Water, Revised and Updated
Marc Reisner
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K09DG2

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Cadillac Desert the American West & Its
Marc Reisner
Manufacturer: PENGUIN PUTNAM @ TRADE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N7AOYW

Cadillac Desert. The American West and Its Disappearing Water

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Cadillac Desert. The American West and Its Disappearing Water
Marc Reisner
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IU1344

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Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water
Marc Reisner
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ0F0C

Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water; New and Revised Edition

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Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water; New and Revised Edition
Marc Reisner
Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KW69YY

Lansdale and Truman's Dead Folks, Issue #1 (Comic Book): On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert...

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Lansdale and Truman's Dead Folks, Issue #1 (Comic Book): On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert...
Joe R. Lansdale
Manufacturer: Avatar
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RI9AJ2

ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE CADILLAC DESERT WITH DEAD FOLKS

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ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE CADILLAC DESERT WITH DEAD FOLKS
Joe R Lansadle
Manufacturer: Roadkill Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UENV4S

Crabtree Publishing Company.(children's books)(Children's review)(Book review): An article from: Children's Bookwatch

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Crabtree Publishing Company.(children's books)(Children's review)(Book review): An article from: Children's Bookwatch
Gale Reference Team
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000OHZYXM
Release Date: 2007-09-27

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Children's Bookwatch, published by Thomson Gale on March 1, 2007. The length of the article is 531 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Crabtree Publishing Company.(children's books)(Children's review)(Book review)
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: Children's Bookwatch (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: NA

Article Type: Book review, Children's review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

A Guide for US Nationals.

US students and professionals often need financial assistance to cover costs of international study. To meet the need for a current information resource on grants and fellowships for study abroad, IIE Books offers this book.

Grants range in value from $500 to tens of thousands of dollars. Key facts on amount of award and what award covers, eligibility and application, numbers of awards offered, purpose and duration, and complete contact information. Awards offered by governments, international and binational organizations and associations, foundations -- and US colleges and universities.

Based on a survey of 5,000 donor organizations worldwide.

Customer Reviews:

Vast Resource, but contact info out of date.......2001-04-12

They've done the research and list many scholorships in an uncluttered format. Scholarships are listed by the geographical location in which the scholarship is to be used. The contact information tends to be out of date, but it is possible to find the current information, albeit with a little work.

Interested in international education? Look no further!.......2000-06-23

Financial Resources for International Study is a must have for anyone wishing to attend school outside of the U.S. Every scholarship and financial aid option imaginable is listed within the book, which if you recieve one of those, could pay for the book itself easily! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who, like me, has to get out and see the world through education but cannot always pay for all of it.

Book Description

Guide to Techniques in Mouse Development, a volume designed to meet the needs of students, experienced researchers, and newcomers to the field, presents for the first time in a single source up-to-date technology used in research carried out with mice.

Key Features
* Comprehensive molecular biological methods in mouse development compiled specifically for this volume
* Articles written by some of the most experienced researchers in the field of mouse development
Among the topics covered
* Gametes and embryos
* Transgenics
* Gene targeting
* Embryonic stem (ES) cells
* Microinjection
* Nuclear transplantation
* Reporter genes
* Gene cloning
* YAC libraries
* In situ hybridization

Customer Reviews:

Contains the latest techniques in 1993.......2005-01-08

12 sections contains 56 chapters. As usual, Methods in Enzymology has a detailed subject INDEX and author INDEX at the end.

Section I: General methodology; anesthesia etc.
Section II: Germ cells and embryos; oocytes culture, acrosome reaction etc.
Section III: Fertilization;
Section IV: Gene expression: mRNA; quantitative analysis of mRNA
Section V: Gene expression: Reporter genes; luciferase, lacZ etc.
Section VI: Gene expression: protein; 2-D gel, immunohistochem etc.
Section VII: Gene expression: methylation; analysis of methylation by PCR etc.
Section VIII: Gene identification; cDNA library construction, cloning etc.
Section IX: Nuclear transplantation; transplantation of nuclei to oocytes etc.
Section X: Transgenic animals: pronuclear injection;
Section XI: Transgenic animals: Embryonic stem cells and gene targeting
Section XII: Lineage analysis

Guide to Techniques in Mouse Development: Volume 225: Guide to Techniques in Mouse Development

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Guide to Techniques in Mouse Development: Volume 225: Guide to Techniques in Mouse Development
John N. Abelson
Manufacturer: Elsevier Science & Technology Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUX56E

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Methods in Enzymology, Volume 225: Guide to Techniques in Mouse Development

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Methods in Enzymology, Volume 225: Guide to Techniques in Mouse Development
Melvin I. Simon, Melvin L. DePamphilis John N. Abelson
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OH949W

Book Description

This is a thorough introduction to the dynamics of one-sided and two-sided Markov shifts on a finite alphabet and to the basic properties of Markov shifts on a countable alphabet. These are the symbolic dynamical systems defined by a finite transition rule. The basic properties of these systems are established using elementary methods. The connections to other types of dynamical systems, cellular automata and information theory are illustrated with numerous examples. The book is written for graduate students and others who use symbolic dynamics as a tool to study more general systems.

SYMBOLIC DYNAMICS: ONE-SIDED, TWO-SIDED AND COUNTABLE STATE MARKOV SHIFTS. Universitext

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SYMBOLIC DYNAMICS: ONE-SIDED, TWO-SIDED AND COUNTABLE STATE MARKOV SHIFTS. Universitext
Bruce P. Kitchens
Manufacturer: Springer-Verlag,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N7IDPE

Book Description

This is the first English translation for forty years of a medieval classic, offering vivid and unique insight into the life of a great monastery in late twelfth-century England. The translation brilliantly communicates the interest and immediacy of Jocelin's narrative, and the annotation is particularly clear and helpful.

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful look into 12th century monastic life ........2004-07-24

I too have an amateurish interest in mediaeval culture. So, Jocelin's chronicle of events at the abbe of Bury St.Edmunds is like experiencing time travel without all the electronic gizmos. I do agree that you must not expect any great insights, or even much text, dedicated to the Christian faith; however, much insight will be gleaned via this chronicle into the abby's dedication to profit via taxes and an unbelievable >scourge < of strange, esoteric taxes-of-the-time. And above all this, and administrating it, was Abbot Samson, well recorded for history by Jocelin. His account reaffirms the overwhelming materalism of the abbe. It is difficult for me to read that a century before there had been major reforms in Benedictine Rule. One concludes that before reform, ecclesiatical conduct must have been somewhat to the left of whoopee.

A unique glimpse into the life of a medieval abbey.......2003-12-31

Jocelin of Brakelond, one of the monks of the abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, allows us a glimpse into the life of a religious community between 1173 and 1202. He chronicles such events as the death of one abbot to the election of a new one, the fiscal affairs of the abbey, a fire that threatens the shrine to St. Edmund, and the politics and tensions of life as a monk dealing not only with other monks, but with townsfolk, the Jewish quarter, knights, the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the King.

I was impressed with just how enmeshed the religious community was in the affairs of the surrounding towns and in the politics of the country as a whole: controlling the markets, collecting monthly fees from every town, serving as the courts for disputes, sending knights to fight with the King. Looking at churches and abbeys now, we think of them only as places of worship, but back in medieval times, they were a large part of the community, affecting the prosperity of towns and cities. Jocelin's chronicle does a fine job of relating how everything co-existed during medieval times.

For anyone interested in medieval or religious history, this is a fascinating chronicle.

A curious, charming little book.......2002-09-17

I stumbled upon this little volume in a used book store and, as I've an amateurish interest in mediaeval culture, decided to buy it. Written by a monk of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds (in Suffolk, England) in the 12th century, it narrates various happenings in that monastery over a period of about 30 years.

There is no overriding narrative here. The author - Jocelin of Brakelond by name - seems to have simply jotted things down when the fancy took him. Most of what he records pertains to the politics - internal and external - of the monastery, and with financial matters : there is one amusing section where he records the fees paid to the monastery by knights of the district. Those looking for spiritual exhortation or insight into monastic religion should look elsewhere.

Though the events of the monastery are not exactly of earth-shattering importance, the book does give one a fascinating view into mediaeval life at the time. Jocelin himself is a wise old character whose observations of his fellow monks are carefully weighed and perceptive. He does not shrink from relating the drama and discord surrounding elections within the monastery. And in the background of the community's life we see the Kings of England (who on a few occasions come to visit), the life of the surrounding town, and in the distance the waging of the Third Crusade.

The most interesting part of the book to me was the account of the fire at the shrine of St. Edmund, and of the subsequent translation of the body and examination of the corpse (by then about 300 years old and still, apparently, incorrupt). I found it a real delight.

Average customer rating:
The chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond,: Concerning the acts of Samson, abbot of the monastery of St. Edmund (Medieval classics)
Jocelin de Brakelond
Manufacturer: T. Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007IZK9Q

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The chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond,: Monk of St. Edmundsbury: a picture of monastic and social life in the XIIth century, (The King's classics)
Jocelin de Brakelond
Manufacturer: Chatto & Windus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

England | Europe | History | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | Ancient | General | London | Medieval | Norman | Tudor & Stuart
ASIN: B00085AX68

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The chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond,: Monk of St. Edmundsbury: a picture of monastic and social life in the XIIth century, (The Medieval library, [15])
Jocelin
Manufacturer: Chatto & Windus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

England | Europe | History | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | Ancient | General | London | Medieval | Norman | Tudor & Stuart
ASIN: B000875LVI

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The Chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond: A picture of monastic life in the days of Abbot Samson, (The King's classics)
Jocelin de Brakelond
Manufacturer: A. Moring, the De la More press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

England | Europe | History | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | Ancient | General | London | Medieval | Norman | Tudor & Stuart
ASIN: B00085B4GQ

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The chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond: Concerning the acts of Samson, abbot of the Monastery of St. Edmund (Medieval classics)
Jocelin
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007EK5WW

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The chronicle of Jocelin
Jocelin de Brakelond
Manufacturer: Burns & Oates
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00088NW7C

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The chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond,
Jocelin
Manufacturer: T. Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007K1NR2

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The chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond,
Jocelin de Brakelond
Manufacturer: J. Murray
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00085B9HK

Average customer rating:
The chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond, monk of St. Edmundsbury: A picture of monastic and social life in the XIIth century, (The Medieval library)
Jocelin de Brakelond
Manufacturer: Chatto & Windus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B000855VF6

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