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Marc Reisner

Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition Paperback – January 1, 1993

by Marc Reisner (Author)

4.6 1,288 ratings

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“I’ve been thinking a lot about Cadillac Desert in the past few weeks, as the rain fell and fell and kept falling over California, much of which, despite the pouring heavens, seems likely to remain in the grip of a severe drought. Reisner anticipated this moment. He worried that the West’s success with irrigation could be a mirage — that it took water for granted and didn’t appreciate the precariousness of our capacity to control it.” – Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times, January 20,2023

"The definitive work on the West's water crisis." --Newsweek

The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruption and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecological and economic disaster. In his landmark book, Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in the competition to transform the West. Based on more than a decade of research, Cadillac Desert is a stunning expose and a dramatic, intriguing history of the creation of an Eden--an Eden that may only be a mirage.

This edition includes a new postscript by Lawrie Mott, a former staff scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, that updates Western water issues over the last two decades, including the long-term impact of climate change and how the region can prepare for the future.

Print length

582 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Books
Publication date

January 1, 1993
Grade level

12 and up
Reading age

18 years and up
Dimensions

8.36 x 5.52 x 1.09 inches
ISBN-10

0140178244
ISBN-13

978-0140178241
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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!

Review

"Masterful. . .Among the most influential environmental books published by an American since Silent Spring."
--San Francisco Examiner

"Essential background reading for anyone who cares about the drought ravaging the West and the region's prospects for changing course before it is too late."
--Mark Hertsgaard, The Daily Beast

"Timely and of national interest. . . . Resiner captures Western water history in Cinemascope and Technicolor. . . . lawmakers, taxpayers, hurry up and read this book."
--The Washington Post

"The scale of this book is as staggering as that of Hoover Dam. Beautifully written and meticulously researched, it spans our century-long effort to moisten the arid West. . . . Anyone thinking of moving west of the hundredth meridian should read this book before they call their real estate agent."
--St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"A revealing, absorbing, often amusing and alarming report on where billions of [taxpayers'] dollars have gone-- and where a lot more are going . . . [Reisner] has put the story together in trenchant form."
--The New York Times Book Review

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; 2nd edition (January 1, 1993)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 582 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0140178244
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140178241
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 12 and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.36 x 5.52 x 1.09 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #16,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2 in Water Supply & Land Use (Books)
- #21 in Environmental Science (Books)
- #123 in U.S. State & Local History

Customer Reviews:
4.6 1,288 ratings

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Kyle D. Johnson

Every American Should Read This Book

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2023

Verified Purchase

Every American should read Cadillac Desert. Despite its seemingly dull and tedious topic - a historical analysis of water resource development in the American West - it is one of the best non-fiction works I've ever read. Marc Reisner's descriptive narration and highly engaging style make for a captivating story, and the information presented is astounding. I had no idea the development of the West was so inextricably linked with staggering levels of corruption, incompetence, and waste driven by all levels of government, media outlets, and agro-conglomerates of all sizes or that destructive infighting between senescent departments of the federal government was actually a real thing. This book makes for an eye-opening but rather depressing read though the Postscript to the Revised Edition does give some cause for future optimism.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Cheryl

If you want to understand water & the West, this is THE classic

Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2022

Verified Purchase

People in the West have been trying to convince the rest of the country that we need to find ways to move water to their part of the country. However, it is all too clear that the average citizen does not understand the history of how water diversions in the West not only made it possible for California to be the state that it is, or Vegas to be a favorite vacation getaway, or Arizona to be a retirement haven.

In fact, when you read this book, you realize that the government was actually short-sighted when it changed the face of the western states by approving literally hundreds of water projects. Some were absolutely necessary of course, to get certain wild rivers under control. But water rights were sold or given to a limited few, who of course made money off of it, and did not prepare for long-term viability.

The western states cannot sustain their population growth indefinitely. Our existing climate, and climate change, will continue to produce water shortages in the West. Coupled with the lack of natural water resources and it is only a matter of time before population growth in these areas must be constrained, and/or people will need to begin moving away from these states.

This book is an in-depth discussion of the many issues that compile water rates in the West, ranging from who gets to use the water, how it is used, and how it gets abused. It should be mandatory reading for any politicians, especially at the federal level, to understand what climate problems and challenges our country faces, not just in the short-term but long-term as well - and how the government's previous actions led to this point.

If you are the least bit interested in climate change or living in the West, you should consider this mandatory reading as well.

15 people found this helpful

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Robert W. Moore

An essential book for understanding modern American life

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2003

Verified Purchase

The late Marc Reisner's brilliant and epic history of the struggles over water in the American West is an epic tale, and it is replete with heroes, villains, and victims. Unfortunately, most of the heroes appear early in the story, with mainly villains onstage at the end. Reisner begins his book with a recounting of the exploration and study of the West by several pioneers, but especially by John Wesley Powell, who understood the essential and unavoidable problems of the West earlier and better than anyone. Powell understood that the West was arid, most of it receiving far less water than needed to support either agriculture or livestock. His visionary and yet profoundly practical suggestions were largely rejected by the United States, setting the stage for much of the overdevelopment and exploitation in the twentieth century.
From Powell, Reisner carries his narrative through such vivid personalities and events as William Mulholland, who pioneered water works to provide Los Angeles with water; Michael Strauss, the head of the Bureau of Reclamation for FDR, during which time the bureau built literally hundreds of dams; and the infamous Floyd Dominy, who manages to be both charismatic and scary at the same time, like a James Bond villain. He also takes the reader through some of the more spectacular water projects in US history, such as the building of the Hoover Dam and the Grand Coulee Dam, in addition to scores of massive water projects for various states in the US. He also devotes a great deal of space to the struggles between the Bureau of Reclamation and the US Army Corps of Engineers, and the resulting economic disaster that resulted.
Reisner shows in excruciating detail how America has stretched its use of water in the West to the breaking point. For many in the West, water has been the key to an expanding economy and population, to the point where most of the water states are completely dependent on maintaining or even expanding their current water supply. But, as Reisner shows and Powell anticipated, there are inescapable limits to how much water can be provided to the West. Moreover, much of the water use is resulting in ecological disaster. It isn't just that some of the dams are dangerous (such as the Teton Dam, which ruptured and broke some years ago, and which is not too different from other dams currently in use), or that many of the dams are destined to silt up (in fact, most dams, as Reisner points out, are built with a specific lifespan in mind, which means that thousands of American dams will at some point need replacing), or hundred of wildlife habitats have been destroyed. Most of the dams have led to irrigation farming, which has throughout history led to the destruction of soil, like in Iraq, where nearly all the arable soil has been destroyed through irrigation.
This is a sobering, frightening book, and one would hope that it would help lead to a renewed effort to bring Western water policy in line with the facts that John Wesley Powell outlined over a hundred years ago. Eventually, we will have to face these facts. Hopefully we will do so before catastrophe forces it upon us.

16 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Bahram Houchmandzadeh

Do we have to ?

Reviewed in France on May 30, 2023

Verified Purchase

I think that most people think that irrigation is good, no matter what. The author revisits this "cliché" through the history of irrigation in western USA and demonstrate the folly in many such endeavors. The book, published in 1985 and reprinted in 2017, is incredibly detailed and well researched.

David V

Brilliant factual account of the development of the American mid-West ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 9, 2015

Verified Purchase

Brilliant factual account of the development of the American mid-West and the various players and forces at play. Well worth a re-read.

Michael Robinson

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 11, 2016

Verified Purchase

A very interesting history of water mismanagement in the States.

Peter

written in fine

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

A fascinating insight, written in fine style

margaret Cuddihy

Read this and be warned

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 5, 2018

Verified Purchase

I read this because it was mentioned in The Water Knife. Found it excellent and I learned a lot about American history. Highly recommended.

One person found this helpful

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