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

from Paulagraph

A year later, I've given CD a second read and must, finally, award it the 5th star (for whatever that's worth) that it so deserves. One of the most scathing, witty and instructive books of political /environmental/economic journalism that I've ever had the pleasure (and horror) to read. I do so w...

from

A recent op-ed piece, by a NASA scientist, stated that California has only enough water to sustain the population for one year. In the mean time the drought goes on. In order to understand what led to the problem of water in the west, read this book. It is an eye-opener.

from dcunning11235

This is a really amazing book. Here is a history of water management and mismanagement, in sometimes minute detail, that reads like a great novel. 500 pages of dams, reservoirs, and irrigation ditches that ends up being more eye-opening, more interesting, and more a page-turner than it has any ri...

from dele2451

A colossal work of investigative journalism focused on the complex and controversial use of the American West's critical water resources. Many humans live and die by the man-made dams in our regions, vacation on the reservoirs they create, and every taxpayer devotes a sizeable chunk of change to ...

from Smiley

This well documented, highly readable account of Western water development will give you a belly ache from both disgust and laughter, but you can't be the same after reading it. Should be required reading in high school. Reisner hedges a bit in the new forward to the latest edition.