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Title: Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition
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Author: Marc Reisner
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Review of Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition

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Comments for Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition

• Posted on 2009-10-13
  How the west was (really) won
  
  Beautifully written, thoroughly researched, and highly enlightening, Cadillac Desert is one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. I knew practically nothing about the subject of western settlement and water resources when I first picked up this book, but I feel now like I have a very good grasp on both issues. Reisner does a spectacular job of explaining the forces behind western settlement and the political and natural issues that made the west what it is today. I only wish there were a more updated version so I could learn how things have progressed in the last 20 or so years.
  
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• Posted on 2009-10-07
  "...Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
  
  Reisner commences his book on the essential element of the American West, water, by quoting Shelley's "Ozymandias," with the observations of a traveler from an antique land. Of course there is nothing "antique" about the American West, if we discard the Indian experiences at such places as Chaco Canyon, and concentrate solely on the White Man's "mastery" of the environment. David Brooks, in a recent article in the New York Times, wrote a paean to the progress of yet more endless housing developments in Phoenix, (I'm serious!), without ever mentioning that five letter word that is the subject of Reisner's work.
  
  Reisner writes an engaging history, focusing on the folly of the settlement of the American West. He is scathing of the politicians, and equally so of the voters who put them in office, who all too often decry "socialism," while demanding immense government expenditures so they can use water in the most profligate of ways - growing crops in a climate not suited for them. The author does praise some of the politicians who saw the folly, like Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois, who had the temerity to point out that it was the worst perversion of New Deal ideas that a Reclamation program would be used to subsidize high-altitude desert farmers so they could grow crops that his own constitutes were being paid NOT to grow. The "water lobby," composed of the West's farmers, real estate developers, and engineers and construction workers virtually always triumphed, and one of the interesting points Reisner made is that Carter was made a one term president not only because of the Iranian hostage crisis, but because of his opposition to the most fiscally unsound dam projects in the West. Most politicians preferred accommodation to principle, or even reason, and notes that Governor Jerry Brown, after attending a funeral for E. F. Schumacher, of "Small is Beautiful" fame, flew back to California to lobby for a water project that costs more than the program to put man on the moon.
  
  The history encompasses the settlement of Utah by the Mormons, as well as the development of the railroads, and their corresponding need for people, particularly farmers, to make their enterprise more profitable. Soon promoters arose, such as William Gilpin, who solved the "no water" problem with assertions that "water will follow the plow," and that the Mississippi basin was suitable for the settlement of a billion people! Reisner has an excellent chapter of the water battles in the Owen River valley, and the eventual diversion of that water which made the massive expansion of Los Angeles possible. Later he covers efforts to divert the Klamath River towards the endless water needs of southern California. There are equally good chapters on the division and utilization of what the author calls the "American Nile," the Colorado River, starting with the original exploration, and vision of John Wesley Powell. Reisner has a knack for making the histories of various federal bureaucracies, such as the Bureau of Reclamation and the Corps of Engineers, as well as their principals, both fascinating and lucid. Imagine that two of those "principals," Ickes and Mike Straus cooked up the idea of hiring Woody Guthrie as a "research assistant" to write songs in praise of the dams - and that he actually did! Reisner went on to assert that there were two principal factors involved in the defeat of the Axis powers: Russian winters, and American hydroelectric capacity.
  
  The author also describes how the first President of the Sierra Club, David Brower, sacrificed Glen Canyon (something he has tried to atone for, throughout his subsequent life) in order to block the Echo Park Dam - one of the first "victories" for environmentalists. Reisner wryly notes that Corps of Engineer's regional director in Salt Lake City received a rubber slide rule from his staff for stretching the truth on the dam project.... Indeed, as Reisner convincingly demonstrates, the economic justification for almost all dam projects used the proverbial rubber slide rule.
  
  Other reviewers have criticized his style as "breezy," with some assertions unsubstantiated, and I would concur. There are redundancies, such as repeating, literally word for word, the costs involved in the Yuma plant's removal of salt for Mexico, and the corresponding price that irrigators pay for water upriver. ( It is almost 100 times more expensive!) He also got his facts wrong on Pinchot (p 81), who he claimed was from Pittsburgh, with a fortune derived from dry-goods. In reality, Pinchot was from eastern PA, with a fortune from timber.
  
  Overall though, a vital read for those living in the American West, on our most important issue, as well as for anyone else concerned with the intersections of "private rights," "public policy," and "wealth distribution."
  
  
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• Posted on 2009-07-30
  Cadillac Desert
  
  
  This book was recommended to me by a friend when he heard I was getting involved with water and politics. The book chronicles the history of water development in the Western United States. To some it might start dry, but I recognized names in the beginning so I was drawn in and once I saw what I was reading, I was hooked. And it's the truth. I was reading an insider's view of what really was going on then in politics and what we are seeing happen right now in cities and towns across the U.S. and it isn't pretty.
  So if your world is rosey and you believe Congress is your friend, Democrate or Republican, leave this book alone. If you want a working knowledge of how you are being lied to daily, pick this up. It has helped me and my confidence when speaking to people about the Truth.
  
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• Posted on 2009-06-28
  All US Residents (certainly politicians!) should read this
  
  As many reviewers have noted, this book should be required reading for anyone living in the US, especially those west of the Mississippi and politicians in those states. The book chronicles the development of white man's settlement (and his agriculture) in the west; development that exploded despite a landscape not prepared to provide the water needed for basic quality of life, much less the demands of farming. This book is not easy to read. At some points it is very technical and will appeal only to scientific and engineering folks, and at some points it is very political. These two disciplines- engineering and politics- however, worked together to create the climate that fostered poor development. Politicians in California and other western states should read this to understand the level of conservation that will be required if these areas are to remain inhabitable as water becomes less and less available. They should understand how old, historic subsidy programs need to be eliminated to discourage water-intensive industry and activity, and new ones developed to encourage smart development and water use. If the "American dream" is fully dependent on exhausting aquifers, then that dream needs to be redefined.
  
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• Posted on 2009-04-25
  The closest to definitive on western water
  
  Cadillac Desert is as close as there is to the definitive treatment (current to its time, of course, but still highly useful) on how water was manipulated, and civilization imposed, in the American west. It reads like a novel - this is a book on water rights and civil engineering that kept me up until the early hours of the morning.
  
  It covers the territory too - all the major projects (there have been no new massive ones in some decades) that reshaped the west. All the conflicts, issues and implications are well represented.
  
  I saw Reisner speak to a regional planning group some years ago in Boise, and he was clearly not just a fine researcher but also a thoughtful analyst. The questions Cadillac Desert raises are many, and Reisner didn't suggest he had all the answers (though he offered a few). But having the history in hand is the first step.
  
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