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Overview
The culmination of ten years of research and observation, McCool's book confirms the surprising news that America's rivers are indeed returning to a healthier, free-flowing condition. The politics of river restoration demonstrates how strong grassroots movements can challenge entrenched powers and win. Through passion and dedication, ordinary people are reclaiming the American landscape, forming a "river republic" of concerned citizens from all backgrounds and sectors of society. As McCool shows, the history, culture, and fate of America is tied to its rivers, and their restoration is a microcosm mirroring American beliefs, livelihoods, and an increasing awareness of what two hundred years of environmental degradation can do.
McCool profiles the individuals he calls "instigators," who initiated the fight for these waterways and, despite enormous odds, have succeeded in the near-impossible task of challenging and changing the status quo. Part I of the volume recounts the history of America's relationship to its rivers; part II describes how and why Americans "parted" them out, destroying their essence and diminishing their value; and part III shows how society can live in harmony with its waterways while restoring their well-being—and, by extension, the well-being of those who depend on them.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780231161312 |
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Publisher: | Columbia University Press |
Publication date: | 07/22/2014 |
Pages: | 408 |
Product dimensions: | 5.10(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.60(d) |
Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Table of Contents
PrefaceAcknowledgments
"Green River," by William Cullen Bryant
Map: Selected Sites
Part I: The Fall
1. Crumbling Edifice
2. Planters, Sawyers, and Snags: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
3. The Manless Land: The Bureau of Reclamation
Part II: Dismemberment
4. Handout Horticulture: Farming and the Feds
5. Falling Waters: Hydropower and Renewable Energy
6. Rivers Into Waterways: Barging, Locks, and Dams
7. Black Water Rising: The Myth of Flood Control
8. Downstream Dilemma: Water Pollution
Part III: Resurrection
9. River City: Urban Riverscapes
10. Net Losses: Habitat and Endangered Species
11. Playground on the Move: River Recreation
12. The River Commons
Notes
Index
What People are Saying About This
This well-crafted page-turner is history and journalism at their best. The book tells with passion, precision, and clarity what has happened to a vital force of nature and offers a vision we can embrace and work toward with enthusiasm. Daniel McCool has given all who want to understand rivers a rare and precious gift.
After an exhilarating whitewater ride through America's love-hate relationship with its rivers, Daniel McCool leaves us inspired and hopeful for a happy ending.
If past is prologue, Daniel McCool's eloquent history of river mismanagement in the United States should be required reading for anyone who cares about the future of our rivers. Weaving in stories that range from how polluted water killed one of Abraham Lincoln's sons to the surprising affinity toward conservationists felt by one of the greatest dam builders of the twentieth century, McCool details the multiple ways in which we have dammed, ditched, diverted, and degraded rivers. Ultimately, though, this is a hopeful book, illuminating our growing recognition that, like salmon returning to Washington's Elwha River or American shad in Virginia's Rappahannock River, we all need clean water and free-flowing rivers for our very survival.
Well-written, engaging, and witty--the best book I have read on rivers.
James Lawrence Powell, author of The Inquisition of Climate Science