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Rating: 
Summary: Comprehensive but compelling
Review: For a native of the flood-prone Sacramento Valley, Battling The Inland Sea is the bible. Nowhere else is the history of a fitful battle against the annual floodwaters unleashed on the Sacramento Valley by the powerful Sierra Nevada watersheds captured so comprehensively. Kelley, however, informs us in a style that is relevant and entertaining. The valley resident treasures it for its history of the Big Fight. Political scientists enjoy it for its history and the lively way Kelley uses the fight over flooding in Northern California as a study in California and national politics.
Rating: 
Summary: Essentially the same book as "Gold v. Grain"
Review: I am a big California rivers environmental history buff, and I found this book to be too similar to his publication "Gold v. Grain" which debuted over 40 years ago. This book is essentially an extension of "Gold v. Grain" that covers the 1960s-1980s. Much of the earlier chapters are virtually cut and pasted verbatim from his previous book. Despite these criticisms, it remains (to my knowledge) the most comprehensive book written about the Sacramento River to date. Until a better book on the Sac comes along, this is probably the one to read for factual information, and for more conceptual/abstract stimulation, I recommend "Organic Machine" by Richard White.
Rating:
Summary: Essentially the same book as "Gold v. Grain"
Review: I am a big California rivers environmental history buff, and I found this book to be too similar to his publication "Gold v. Grain" which debuted over 40 years ago. This book is essentially an extension of "Gold v. Grain" that covers the 1960s-1980s. Much of the earlier chapters are virtually cut and pasted verbatim from his previous book. Despite these criticisms, it remains (to my knowledge) the most comprehensive book written about the Sacramento River to date. Until a better book on the Sac comes along, this is probably the one to read for factual information, and for more conceptual/abstract stimulation, I recommend "Organic Machine" by Richard White.
Rating:
Summary: Essentially the same book as "Gold v. Grain"
Review: I am a big California rivers environmental history buff, and I found this book to be too similar to his publication "Gold v. Grain" which debuted over 40 years ago. This book is essentially an extension of "Gold v. Grain" that covers the 1960s-1980s. Much of the earlier chapters are virtually cut and pasted verbatim from his previous book. Despite these criticisms, it remains (to my knowledge) the most comprehensive book written about the Sacramento River to date. Until a better book on the Sac comes along, this is probably the one to read for factual information, and for more conceptual/abstract stimulation, I recommend "Organic Machine" by Richard White.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating History of the Sacramento Valley
Review: If you've ever taken a guided factory tour, you know the difference between someone reciting memorized facts and someone who can call upon a deep reservoir of knowledge, accumulated over a lifetime, for information that will illuminate a particular subject. Mr. Kelley clearly belongs in the latter class. Reading his book, it is apparent that we are only scratching the surface of what this remarkable historian knows about the complex interplay of history, politics, personality and nature that conspired to produce the water system northern California has today. The story of California water is fascinating, although perhaps only of real interest to Californians. Nevertheless, even if only for that audience, Mr. Kelley has written an entirely readable, yet simultaneously scholarly volume. Anyone interested in an introduction to the state of northern California's water situation should begin with this book. In a general sense, however, this book is also about changing political and sociological trends in America beginning around 1850. The focus is on flooding in the Sacramento Valley, and its battles between gold miners and valley farmers, or between Republican engineers and Democratic populists, but parallels are probably found elsewhere in our country during the same period of history. I enjoyed this book tremendously.
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