History and Critical Analysis

Arid Ambition: Conquering the American Desert 1 Arid Ambition - Part 1: John Wesley Powell and the Folly of Settlement 2 Arid Ambition - Part 2: The Syndicate That Stole a River 3 Arid Ambition - Part 3: The Gods of Concrete and the Pork Barrel 4 Arid Ambition - Part 4: Teton and the Price of Engineering Hubris 5 Arid Ambition - Part 5: The Mirage of Augmentation and the Looming End ← Series Home The monumental dams of the American West were once hailed as modern temples. They represented the ultimate conquest of nature, giving engineers confidence to subdue great rivers worldwide. Yet, the quest for engineering perfection masked a dangerous political and bureaucratic hubris. As the best dam sites disappeared, engineers were forced to build on inferior, dangerous ground. This relentless ambition led directly to catastrophe. ...

Arid Ambition: Conquering the American Desert 1 Arid Ambition - Part 1: John Wesley Powell and the Folly of Settlement 2 Arid Ambition - Part 2: The Syndicate That Stole a River 3 Arid Ambition - Part 3: The Gods of Concrete and the Pork Barrel 4 Arid Ambition - Part 4: Teton and the Price of Engineering Hubris 5 Arid Ambition - Part 5: The Mirage of Augmentation and the Looming End ← Series Home The promise of the American West, founded on water scarcity, found its ultimate expression in concrete and steel. Early 20th-century engineers did not merely manage water; they embarked on a massive, zealous effort to redirect natural forces. When archaeologists from another planet sift through our civilization’s remains, they might conclude that our temples were dams. These formidable structures, constructed with exquisite care, will likely outlast skyscrapers and cathedrals. The completion of Hoover Dam on the Colorado River was the first global signal of this new era. The dam, which rises 726 feet (221 m) tall, gave engineers the confidence to conquer nearly all the world’s great rivers. ...

Arid Ambition: Conquering the American Desert 1 Arid Ambition - Part 1: John Wesley Powell and the Folly of Settlement 2 Arid Ambition - Part 2: The Syndicate That Stole a River 3 Arid Ambition - Part 3: The Gods of Concrete and the Pork Barrel 4 Arid Ambition - Part 4: Teton and the Price of Engineering Hubris 5 Arid Ambition - Part 5: The Mirage of Augmentation and the Looming End ← Series Home The creation of the American West required conquering its most formidable barrier: water scarcity. The previous decades demonstrated that private enterprise and individual effort were insufficient to overcome the continent’s arid reality. The federal government stepped in through the Reclamation Act of 1902. This law provided subsidies and the engineering might necessary to irrigate the desert. However, the first great modern water conflict unfolded not between farmer and nature, but between a burgeoning metropolis and a small, unsuspecting farming community. This conflict revealed the intense political corruption and sheer ruthlessness underlying the “greening of the desert”. ...

Arid Ambition: Conquering the American Desert 1 Arid Ambition - Part 1: John Wesley Powell and the Folly of Settlement 2 Arid Ambition - Part 2: The Syndicate That Stole a River 3 Arid Ambition - Part 3: The Gods of Concrete and the Pork Barrel 4 Arid Ambition - Part 4: Teton and the Price of Engineering Hubris 5 Arid Ambition - Part 5: The Mirage of Augmentation and the Looming End ← Series Home The American West often appears as a land of limitless possibility. This vision, fueled by relentless optimism, masked an intractable truth: the West is a semidesert with a desert heart. This region cannot be remade into the image of the wet eastern United States. It requires manipulation of water, capturing it behind dams, storing it, and rerouting it over hundreds of miles in concrete channels. Ignoring this environmental reality led directly to disaster, political conflict, and the rise of a pervasive welfare state disguised as rugged individualism. ...

The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt 1 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 1: The Mandate of Salt 2 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 2: The Garum Grid: Salt, Sex, and Power in the Roman World 3 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 3: The Adriatic Empire: Venice, Salt Monopoly, and the Spice Trade 4 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 4: Friday’s Treasure: Cod, Herring, and the Northern Salt Wars 5 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 5: Liberté, Egalité, Tax Breaks: The Gabelle, Contraband, and Revolution 6 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 6: The Rock and the Soul: Gandhi’s March to End an Imperial Tax 7 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 7: Sodium’s Perfect Marriage: When Chemistry Dethroned the Miner 8 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 8: Big Salt, Little Salt: The Global Corporation and the Gourmet Revival 9 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Intro: The Rock That Built Civilizations ← Series Home Act I: The Rise and Branding of Big Salt The foundation of American Big Salt was built on strategic transportation advantage. The Morton Salt Company was founded in 1880 by Joy Morton, a Detroit-born former railroad employee. Morton began working for E. I. Wheeler and Company in Chicago, which acted as an agent for Onondaga salt companies, selling their product in the Midwest. Morton invested his entire savings of $10,000 and acquired a fleet of lake boats to deliver a year’s supply of salt inexpensively to midwestern centers during the ice-free summer months, giving his company a competitive advantage in the expanding market. ...

The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt 1 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 1: The Mandate of Salt 2 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 2: The Garum Grid: Salt, Sex, and Power in the Roman World 3 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 3: The Adriatic Empire: Venice, Salt Monopoly, and the Spice Trade 4 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 4: Friday’s Treasure: Cod, Herring, and the Northern Salt Wars 5 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 5: Liberté, Egalité, Tax Breaks: The Gabelle, Contraband, and Revolution 6 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 6: The Rock and the Soul: Gandhi’s March to End an Imperial Tax 7 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 7: Sodium’s Perfect Marriage: When Chemistry Dethroned the Miner 8 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 8: Big Salt, Little Salt: The Global Corporation and the Gourmet Revival 9 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Intro: The Rock That Built Civilizations ← Series Home For millennia, the value of salt derived from its preserving power and its rarity in certain regions. Yet, by the end of the eighteenth century, the rise of chemistry began to dismantle this ancient economic structure. This new field of science, which became an independent field of research in the late 1600s, finally revealed the true nature of salt, confirming that common table salt was merely one component of a larger, complex family of substances. ...

The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt 1 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 1: The Mandate of Salt 2 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 2: The Garum Grid: Salt, Sex, and Power in the Roman World 3 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 3: The Adriatic Empire: Venice, Salt Monopoly, and the Spice Trade 4 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 4: Friday’s Treasure: Cod, Herring, and the Northern Salt Wars 5 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 5: Liberté, Egalité, Tax Breaks: The Gabelle, Contraband, and Revolution 6 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 6: The Rock and the Soul: Gandhi’s March to End an Imperial Tax 7 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 7: Sodium’s Perfect Marriage: When Chemistry Dethroned the Miner 8 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 8: Big Salt, Little Salt: The Global Corporation and the Gourmet Revival 9 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Intro: The Rock That Built Civilizations ← Series Home The British Empire’s administration of India during the twentieth century operated under economic principles that favored Great Britain. The Indian economy existed largely for the enrichment of the mother country, with Indian salt explicitly managed for the benefit of Cheshire, England. ...

The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt 1 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 1: The Mandate of Salt 2 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 2: The Garum Grid: Salt, Sex, and Power in the Roman World 3 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 3: The Adriatic Empire: Venice, Salt Monopoly, and the Spice Trade 4 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 4: Friday’s Treasure: Cod, Herring, and the Northern Salt Wars 5 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 5: Liberté, Egalité, Tax Breaks: The Gabelle, Contraband, and Revolution 6 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 6: The Rock and the Soul: Gandhi’s March to End an Imperial Tax 7 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 7: Sodium’s Perfect Marriage: When Chemistry Dethroned the Miner 8 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 8: Big Salt, Little Salt: The Global Corporation and the Gourmet Revival 9 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Intro: The Rock That Built Civilizations ← Series Home The Crown’s Salty Start: From Crusade to Code The idea of the French Crown controlling salt production for royal revenue began modestly on the Mediterranean coast. In 1246, Louis IX established a sea-salt pond in the estuary of the Rhône—a marshy area known as the Camargue—to raise money for his planned Crusade to the Middle East. ...

The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt 1 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 1: The Mandate of Salt 2 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 2: The Garum Grid: Salt, Sex, and Power in the Roman World 3 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 3: The Adriatic Empire: Venice, Salt Monopoly, and the Spice Trade 4 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 4: Friday’s Treasure: Cod, Herring, and the Northern Salt Wars 5 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 5: Liberté, Egalité, Tax Breaks: The Gabelle, Contraband, and Revolution 6 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 6: The Rock and the Soul: Gandhi’s March to End an Imperial Tax 7 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 7: Sodium’s Perfect Marriage: When Chemistry Dethroned the Miner 8 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 8: Big Salt, Little Salt: The Global Corporation and the Gourmet Revival 9 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Intro: The Rock That Built Civilizations ← Series Home The rise of northern Europe as a great economic power was inextricably linked to salt. This transition of wealth from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic world was driven, ironically, by religious observance. In the early Middle Ages, the Catholic Church dramatically expanded the number of “lean” days when meat consumption was forbidden, requiring the populace to rely on preserved fish. The Lenten fast, established in the fourth century, was extended to forty days, and all Fridays, commemorating Christ’s crucifixion, were included. ...

The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt 1 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 1: The Mandate of Salt 2 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 2: The Garum Grid: Salt, Sex, and Power in the Roman World 3 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 3: The Adriatic Empire: Venice, Salt Monopoly, and the Spice Trade 4 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 4: Friday’s Treasure: Cod, Herring, and the Northern Salt Wars 5 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 5: Liberté, Egalité, Tax Breaks: The Gabelle, Contraband, and Revolution 6 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 6: The Rock and the Soul: Gandhi’s March to End an Imperial Tax 7 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 7: Sodium’s Perfect Marriage: When Chemistry Dethroned the Miner 8 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Part 8: Big Salt, Little Salt: The Global Corporation and the Gourmet Revival 9 The White Gold Standard: A World History of Salt - Intro: The Rock That Built Civilizations ← Series Home The enduring Roman idea that establishing saltworks was synonymous with building empires was carried forward into the maritime republics that rose after Rome’s collapse in the fifth century. The Mediterranean, once the most economically vital region of the Western world, entered a period of intense competition. ...