The story of California is the story of water, and no book tells it better than this opulent, exuberant, thoughtful collection of photographs and text. With full-color photos throughout, Water and the Shaping of California presents the natural history of water in California, and explores the forces of nature--flood and drought--and society--gold, grain and growth--that led to the water projects that created the California we know today and the conflict over competing uses.
Water and the Shaping of California features literary works by some of California's best know authors including Mary Austin, Joan Didion, John McPhee, William Saroyan, Gary Snyder, Kevin Starr, and John Steinbeck. Duotone photographs and illustrations along with excerpts from old journals and magazine articles by William Henry Brewer, Clarence King, John Muir, Mark Twain and others paint a picture of the California of yesterday.
Water and the Shaping of California is a large, capacious book, in which water is viewed both intimately and at the same time with an enlarged perspective that enables the reader to come away with a greater sense of the history of the state and the problems and opportunities we face.
