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

There is also an excellent PBS companion 4 video series of the same name which I found available at my library (or sold through Amazon.com packaged with Chinatown) which I would HIGHLY recommend. It adds a lot thorough interviews, footage of a dam failing, and beautiful scenery that lets you appreciate the natural beauty at stake when considering these large water projects.


Essential History   February 5, 2002
xaosdog (Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA USA)
63 out of 66 found this review helpful

I am somewhat ashamed to have read this book only recently. I should have read this one years ago.

Well, better late than never, and I am pleased to report that it deserves its enduring reputation.

...But let me assume that I am writing this "review" for an audience that is neither familiar with Reisner's book nor aware of the role water development has played in every aspect of the history of the American West, particularly of California.

Briefly, the history of water development contains the whole story of the West, from start to present. Early modern irrigation worked miracles and opened to the plow land previously unavailable for agriculture -- land that now feeds the nation and much of the world. If it were not for these early, massive hydro-projects, not one of the great cities of the West would be even conceivable, millions upon millions of people would and could never have considered settling the western half of the continent. Of course, there was a massive cost accompanying all of these benefits, measurable in human as well as environmental terms, but in those days the cost-benefit analysis was easy.

Building upon early irrigation successes, two government agencies -- the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers, may they both live forever in infamy -- garnered unto themselves massive power and independence, which they used to keep on building dam after dam after dam. The problem was not so much (at the time the dams were built) that the environmental costs were higher with every dam, until there now remains no wild river beyond the hundredth meridian of any significance whatsoever, precious little habitat for migratory birds, mass extinctions, etc., etc., tragically etc.; the real problem (at the time the dams were built) was that the new dams brought no benefits whatsoever to stack up against their costs. Each new dam represented gratuitous environmental catastrophe, effected simply because water projects became the currency of pork barrel Congressional politics.

And that's not the worst of it. Except for the Egyptian (the Nile River being a very special case), every civilization founded upon irrigation has always ended -- abruptly -- almost certainly due to the sudden and permanent despoliation of irrigated agricultural soil through concentration of salts, which is the inevitable result of irrigation. No previous irrigation civilization has ever worked on such a grand scale, or with soil already so alkaline, as ours. Death by salinity is happening with alarming rapidity in the American West even now. The end of agriculture as we know it in the West is coming, and coming soon; all the experts know it; nothing is being done.

Reisner doesn't suggest much in the way of solutions. But as history -- explaining patterns of human settlement, the effects of that settlement on the region's geography, the patterns of flow and accumulation of wealth in the West, and what may be the greatest crisis our whole nation is facing and ignoring today -- Cadillac Desert can't be beat.


Required Reading   May 28, 2000
William E Jacobs
31 out of 33 found this review helpful

Cadillac Desert should be required reading for every American. On the surface it tells the story of water development and conservation (or lack thereof) in the American west in particular and the nation in general. Throughout the book however, you are given an understanding of how our government actually works. I always wondered why a company in California will contribute heavily to a congressman from New York. Now I know. I also know why our government will spend so much tax money on seemingly wastful projects. Anyone interested in engineering will be fascinated by the construction of the huge dams. Marc Reisner also relates some of the disasters that resulted from poorly constucted or situated dams. This book is well researched and well written and for a book with so much technical information, quite easy and enjoyable to read. Anyone interested in water conservation, irrigation, American government, American history, engineering feats or development of the American west will love this book


One of the most illuminating books I have read in a while   September 1, 2001
N. Cooley (Gilbert, AZ United States)
18 out of 19 found this review helpful

"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.


A Canadian says: An absolutely fabulous book and definitely current   May 6, 2006
West Coast Paddler (Pacific NW)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful

The importance and currency of this book is inversely and exponentially proportional to the (decreasing) amount of water in the Ogallala Aquifer. I.E. as the water supplies in the U.S. Southwest continue to decline and eventually disappear in the face of demands from Las Vegas (fastest growing city in the US) and Phoenix (everyone likes to live where it's hot), Southern California, and substantial agricultural interests, look out!

I read this book about 10 years ago during a two month driving/hiking sojourn through the SW.

What struck me most about the book was:

1. it is incredibly well researched; absolutely top notch - you learn about the issues, the people and the places important to the story of water in the U.S. (across the US, in fact, not just the SW) and how the story will spill across the Canadian border in the years ahead.

2. It is a darned good read. Some of the characters are larger-than-life and the author runs with it; it is very entertaining. The overall seriousness and importance of the topic is driven home and in no way is it sacrificed for cheap laughs.

3. a great education on the US Dept of Interior, the US Army Corps of Engineers and the amazing politics of water (dams, irrigation, dams, cities, dams, incredible canal systems, dams, etc.).

I can't recommend this book highly enough to anyone who has ever used a tap and thought for a moment where the water comes from and what would happen if all of a sudden it stopped flowing. Even if you've never had a drink in your life, read it!

My fellow Canadians are particularly encouraged to have a read and then wonder what may lie ahead for our water resources.