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Summary: A must read for anybody from Southern California
Review: I had to read this book for a history class that I took in college. I wasn't that excited about reading it because I thought, "What would be so interesting about water and its relation to the development of Southern California?" After I started reading it I couldn't put it down and I finished it in a few days. It was very interesting to me because, being from Los Angeles, I learned so much more about my hometown. I would recommend this book to anybody, especially those from Southern California, because it's a very different take on the state's and the region's history.
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Summary: California water wars await you...
Review: For an interesting perspective on the Californian water wars, this is the book for you. The author has done some excellent research here - he takes a historical approach, entering the minds of the key players that shaped California into the State it is today. The Teton Dam episode almost brought me to tears, from the detailed human trauma descriptions to the geologic explanation - it's all here - he really should write an update though - new information is being discovered everyday.
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Summary: "Cadillac Desert"
Review: "Cadillac Desert" is a must-read, and a mandatory book for the library of every individual interested in the issues of Western water. This book is jammed full of well-researched statistics, but yet tells fascinating stories. While it may be dated at this point, that does not diminish the book full of relevant statistics that continue "to hold water." (excuse the pun) "Cadillac Desert" is constantly referred to by experts and scholars in the field of water resource. While it is long, there is not a part of the book that is not valuable and packed full of critical information. This is certainly a fact-based book that you won't want to put down. (This coming from a non-science individual.)
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Summary: Inspired me to study my local watershed
Review: Reisner puts the big picture in my head! Can I ever look at the glass of water I am drinking the same? Currently I am helping a nonprofit environmental law office to look at our local watershed, and I can truly say that I got a lot of interesting ideas from 'Cadillac Desert.' Not only that, during our local environmental groups' fight against a huge development housing project, which is really going to push LA further into hell and impacting on neighboring counties, Riesner's account of the water politics illuminates my understanding of the complicated water policies I am studying and facing. A must-read for anyone who is interested in the future of water for all Californians.
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Summary: A decent primer, but the video is better
Review: First, Mark Reisner deserves praise as a tireless researcher and honest writer. And also for bringing the issue of water into the public eye--no easy task.That said, however, his book is not focused properly. It is never clear, for example, why immigration to Southern California began in the first place, when it was still a desert. Second, the book is not unified in the sense that all of the chapters interlock and tell the history of water strictly chronologically. A historian once wrote, "When something happens, it is because a lot of other things have already happened." You don't get this sequence of events so clearly in Reisner. I recommend seeing the video first (available at most public libraries). Then make a decision on the book.
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Summary: Packed with surprising information
Review: Reisner has done a remarkable piece of work here. I found myself astonished on every page. This book tells a story of modern man's excessive self-confidence and wretched greed, plus plain stupidity. Should be required reading.
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Summary: A 518 page thriller...with an admission seven years too late
Review: The first edition, published in 1986, reads as one of the mostpessimistic pieces of literature ever written about water and theAmerican West. There is certainly much about water development in the West that was taken on with undue ambition and blindness, but to only lend a complimentary paragraph or two (in 500 pages or so of text) to the good that it has done proves that Mr. Reisner is less than objective in his treatment of this complex issue. Unless the reader wants to spend literally thousands of hours verifying the facts and details cited in this text (which are not footnoted, rather piled upon you in an extensive bibliography), he/she must take on faith that the horrific interpretations he presents are true. Something that the American public is all too apt to do. The fact that "Cadillac Desert" contains no references in the text proves that Mr. Reisner intended it to read more like a thrilling novel than a factual, yet just as thrilling, documentary. In this he has succeeded. If the reader can wade through the blatant biases and personal characterizations (which are not pertinent to the topic) and maintain an objective attitude toward the text, reading "Cadillac Desert" may prove to be an extremely enlightening and positive experience. I certainly would recommend it to such a reader. If you do read this book, be sure to read the revised and updated edition published in 1993. Otherwise you will miss Mr. Reisner's frank admission that his perception of water development in the mid-1980s may have been a bit too pessimistic. In fact, he miraculously ends his revised edition on a rather optimistic note! Too bad Mr. Reisner did not realize this sooner, before thousands and thousands of Americans read it and adopted its anti-government, anti-business, and anti-dam pessimism...
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Summary: A must read, fascinating and informative. I loved it.
Review: Normally, I am not an avid non-fiction reader. However, my best friend asked me to assist her in doing a research essay on the politics of water for a political science class she was taking in summer school. I wasn't working at the time so I said okay. I am an English grad student with a limited technical and historical background. The first thing I did was call the local municipal water department and talk to an engineer there. The first thing he said to me was to read this book. He even loaned me his copy. I couldn't put it down for over three days. I loved it. What did I like about it? Everything. What I loved most in the beginning of the book was the section having to do with the trip down the Colorado by a one-armed explorer. It contained some fascinating diary entries on what he saw and heard going down the river on two rafts. I kept on reading. I do not have a scientific mind but even I could understand the very detailed technical descriptions concerning dam building which the book contained. I understood everything about the politics and economics as well. The writing is very clear. This Christmas season my husband and I went to the Hoover Dam and took the foot tour. We also watched the documentary in the visitor's center which described the preliminary work on this dam as well as the way it was constructed. Dam interesting! I understood it that much more because of this book. I was let down to see the book end. I need a sequel. The book should be required reading for every history and political science major in every university. It is well written and documented. Congratulations to the author for giving us a major work of non-fiction which holds our attention from beginning to end. The portion of the book dealing with California was especially meaningful to me because I live there.
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Summary: Encyclopaedic; fascinating; but needs more data.
Review: This is a fascinating account of the great dam-building era in the West. It has great stories, and a wealth of detail about the personalities and forces involved. Indispensable for anyone who wants to understand water issues. Its major failing (and this is a big one) is an almost total lack of numbers. You get nothing except stories, and the tale of our dam-building binge needs to be put in a context of costs, water flows, acreage irrigated, and other data. An interesting aspect of the issue is that someone like me, who comes at it from a free-market orientation, thinks that Reisner, who is very much an environmentalist, is essentially right.
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Summary: Alarming, facinating, a page turner
Review: This is a marvelous book with so much history and insight about the true gold of the west, water. I am on my second read through . This time I am highlighting the phrases and terms used that make the corners of my mouth turn skywards. How this book can be witty, fun, and yet so factual is one of its charms. Read it NOW!
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