Key Insights
#- The American West cannot be remade into the East
- Water scarcity requires massive intervention
- Political corruption underlies water projects
- Engineering hubris leads to disasters
- The West's civilization is precarious
References
#- Reisner, M. (1993). Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. Penguin Books.
- Worster, D. (1985). Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West. Pantheon Books.
- Powell, J. W. (1878). Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States. Government Printing Office.
- Hundley, N. (2001). The Great Thirst: Californians and Water, 1770s-1990s. University of California Press.
- Kahrl, W. L. (1982). Water and Power: The Conflict over Los Angeles' Water Supply in the Owens Valley. University of California Press.
·1877 words·9 mins
The unsustainable water allocations and the precarious future of Western civilization.
·1428 words·7 mins
The catastrophic failure of the Teton Dam and the dangers of engineering overconfidence.
·1330 words·7 mins
The massive dams and engineering works that transformed the West, funded by federal welfare programs.
·2275 words·11 mins
The political corruption and water theft that fueled the development of the American West.
·2037 words·10 mins
Explore the early explorers who understood the American West's arid nature and the folly of trying to settle it like the East.