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Summary: BEST NON-FICTION BOOK EVER!!!
Review: I read the book in the late 80s and have made it the best non-fiction book I ever read. I was drawn to it by a review in the Smithsonian magazine; an equally great resource.
The book turned me on to the subject of H20 to the extent that I soon became involved in digging up information on the water supply in Los Angeles, where I lived at the time.
Water is the lifeblood of a civilization and this book makes it both interesting and entertaining. It also led me to several other books, one of which I will recommend as well: ENCOUNTER WITH THE ARCHDRUID by McPhee.
The only negative I can come up with on CADILLAC DESERT is that it didnt have enough maps or pictures...
And that he never came up with another book as interesting as this one; Oasis book was a dissapointment
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Summary: American water development and the lucky few.
Review: A very readable account of why the American West has been under a siege of dams, dikes, aqueducts and drains for the past 50 years. The majority of these giant public works projects benefit few, are paid for by all and plunder the environment in the process. The transformation began as part of Roosevelt's new deal work programs. The first big dams, Hoover on the Colorado River and the Grand Coulee on the Columbia, set the dinosaur wheels of the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers in motion. If you're a taxpayer this book will give you a full appreciation of the pork-barrel concept. If you're a conservationist, the nicely demonstrated fact that little or no economic benefit often accompanied environmentally disastrous programs will get you riled up. As a former resident of Southern California, I found the deceit and villany involved with Mulholland's water grab of the Owens Valley and subsequent takings of the Colorado very interesting. It never ceases to amaze me how America thrives on turning the resources of many into the endless riches of a few. Water development was American politics at its best
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Summary: One of the most illuminating books I have read in a while
Review: "Cadillac Desert" is one of those books that causes a person to seriously question "the system" (no matter your ideological affiliation). The book exposes the blantant contradictions and hypocrisy that have permeated the history of the West (which history is the history of water and it being reigned in). Take my own situation for example: Over the last couple of weeks I found myself agreeing page after page with the authors' points of view. During those same weeks when I was reading the book and agreeing with the author, I was swimming in, showering in, watering my lawn with, and drinking the very water the author condemned. As if that wasn't bad enough I reflected on my former years when I worked every summer on the family farm which was sustained by CAP and reclamation water. Ouch!!!
My reading this book can basically be translated into the author, Marc Reisner, slapping me in the face and chewing me out and me just sitting there unable to defend myself. The book sets forth examples that are virtually impossible to argue against. However, one point Mr. Reisner failed to mention is the importance agriculture plays in our national security and our ability as a nation to sustain ourselves. This point, though, hardly justifies the irrational decisions made buy both the Bureau of Reclamation and the Corps of Engineers. I mention it here as a kind a weak punch from the canvas in an attempt to justify my existence after being so brutally beaten down by facts and the exposure of the blatant hypocrisy perpetuated by so-called "ideological purists" (which come from both sides of the aisle). The author said it best by stating that when it comes to water there are no Republicans and Democrats, and there are no liberals or conservatives.
Rating:
Summary: A Primer on Political Maneuvering
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read. Even though this is about water policy, the stories told by Reisner should be required reading for anyone who wants to go into business or politics. This is fascinating reading, really enjoyable, and it teaches us how politics in this country is really done.
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Summary: As important as any history book
Review: Only 100 years ago, almost every river in the United States ran freely. After tens of thousands of dams were built, almost no wild rivers remain.
The Bureau of Reclamation was formed to build these dams for irrigation and flood control. What began as a benevolent effort to help people live better lives has become a wholesale destruction of our entire indigenous ecosystem and the species therein, and is bringning us closer to the verge of environmental collapse. Not to mention that these programs have amounted to welfare for rich corporate farmers in the way of water subsidies and free infrastructure, all at the expense of family farmers who can't possibly compete with the prices of the corporations.
This is an amazingly thorough and well researched book that gives you insight into the invisible corruption of our government from which you can plainly see the types of things the Bush Administration is doing now.
This book is amazing, even if it's not always a page turner and any review necessarily falls short of praising its magnitude.
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Summary: Rewarding Reading
Review: This reader highly recommends this work to show the complexity involved in answering the question, "How much does a glass of water cost in the American Southwest "? The author wrote a well-researched book in an attempt to show the factors involved in answering that question. The author portrays a complex web of jurisdictions on the state local and federal levels that are involved in various projects. Every policy has its winners and losers. The book contains a little history of the Southwest, some personal interviews, many stories of the pork barrel politics involved to make sure the rest of the country buys into these irrigation and dam projects. This book will be an eye-opener for most Easterners in this country where battling over water rights is generally not on the local political agenda. A very rewarding book.
Rating: 
Summary: terrific - and terrifically scary - history
Review: Surely the 59 other reviews that are listed below have covered much of what there is to say about "Cadillac Desert". Resiner has an engaging writing style that veers occasionally into rage and anger. He, um, doesn't much care for the Bureau of Reclamation or the Army Corps of Engineers, although much of his fury is spend on the Bureau. Why, I wonder, did the Army Corps get off so easy?This book actually reads like a series of shorter articles placed together. The book lacks clear sense of direction. The last couple of chapters dealing with "case studies" of specific Dam sites can only be described as "tiresome". However, his early chapters, those dealing with the beginning of irrigation in the west, are fascinating. Personally, I am totally interested in the history of the Salton "Sea" and the mere fact that Reisner devotes several pages to the subject was enough to make reading half this book worthwhile. The other half was made worth while by the fact that I no longer have to pretend that I've read this book, now I've actually read it! Is it me, or this one of those books you're supposed to read as an undergraduate? One final note, this book makes for an interesting companion read with Imperial San Francisco, by Gary Brechin.
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Summary: The best book on Water politics
Review: Marc Reisner wrote a classic for the Water ecology set. You will learn so much information that rarely makes it in the news, yet is far more important than the news. Within this book, Reisner explains how water resources are misused due to poor government water policies. The Bureau of Water Reclamation sells water to Western farmers for virtually nothing. In turn, these farmers waste this precious resource by growing rice (the most water intensive crop with the lowest market value) in desertic areas. As a result, farmers use about 75% of all water consumption in the West. This book written over 15 years ago explains the underlying trends to the current water crisis in California. But, as depicted in the book, this water crisis is entirely self induced by poor water management. We should not be growing water intensive crops (rice) in deserts with subsidized water thereby triggering a constraint on both our demographic and economic growth in the West. With better water management, including a reduction in water subsidy, there would be plenty of water for everyone. This would include enough water to allow for demographic growth, industrial growth, and a thriving water efficient agricultural sector. This book is as relevant today, as when it was first written.
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Summary: Beware the pork!
Review: Cadillac Desert is an excellent resource about water in the Western U.S. and the political wrangling that took place to control it. This book describes the backroom deals, the crimes & criminals, and the pork barrel water projects associated with control of water in the West. After reading this book I became more aware (and skeptical) of the politics of water. The book is very readable, educational, and entertaining.
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