Marc (1987) Paperback, Cadillac Desert by Reisner

An eye opening book about public investments in infrastructure projects, primarily water management. The book is quite thorough, well-researched and very readable. It makes your blood boil to see how decisions are made, how much money is wasted, the damage to our planet and its future, and the beneficiaries of government largess.

Powerful book that gives the historical facts of how the arid west's water supply has been developed. The huge subsidies and significant impacts of these actions should make all of us question the sanity of continuing this madness.

A little dry in places (pun intended).This book is a real eye opener when it comes to what has happened and will happen concerning water in the western states.Another dozen generations and the great trek east will begin as the last of the water runs out.

I think this is a great primer on environmental issues in general and, of course, water in particular. What we do with the world as we build our societies and livelihoods as a cost. We should ask what the cost really is and if the benefits are worth it.

Marc Reisiner has written a book that should be on every book list to read by the under graduate. I am ordering my third one as I have given the others away. Whether interested in American government or not, this is a must read for everyone. This account of how the Water Laws were used for private gain as well as some put to good use is astounding. I think this book goes hand in hand with the corrupt handling of the BIA as both have provided interesting money and land to politicians.

Book is interesting. Mostly
About the American West, which might be obvious. It kind of seems like this author was a cocaine user, and focuses sporadically, but there are some great stories and vignettes in this combined with some above average historical research

Written in 1986 it's still timely. A well researched, but entertainingly written, account of how America squandered hundreds of billions of dollars on worthless water projects and gives away billions of dollars every year to the mega farms.

Economics, politics, Big Government, Back Room Deals, Tribal Affairs, Ranching, Farming, Recreation ... Reisner's research is impeccable. His story is thestuff of good literature and superior history.
He weaves a sorry cloth from each of these threads. You are at once interested; suprised, unbelieving, angry, really angry, sad and, finally, determined to interviene at every opportunity when a water issue arises in your town, city, county, state. You know you cannot just sit there doing nothing. The Cadillac Desert gives you the why and the how in a fascinating story of the power of water in the West. And the idiocy continues.

In reviewing the history and results of water policy in the western US this book gives a lot of information that most Americans know little about. On one hand the US government has spent a lot of money rerouting nature so that western Americans can believe that they have done everything by themselves through self reliance. And on the other hand we have been mortgaging our future by wringing every last bit of water out of nature to build cities in the dessert that will inevitably decline as the water runs out.

Should be mandatory reading for students in American classrooms along with The Worst Hard Times. Excellent treatise on how we won the West and have set the stage for environmental disasters that are man-made.

The book was originally published in 1993 and the recent update is very helpful. Anyone who has an interest on the history of water development in the west would gain valuable insights from this book.

While out of date, the review of how the Southwest has gotten itself into the pickle it is in is timely and fascinating. Very well written, it will spell out where we are headed with the continuing drought in the Southern half of the US.

Although published a while ago, it is still very much current. The absolute best way to understand the issues surrounding water in the west. It is also a good reminder of how unjust we have been with the original inhabitants of our U.S.

This book should be read by every American concerned about the future. Forget oil; water might be our most important resource. Even without global warming, the water in the West will be a major crisis, if it's not already. Reisner traces the water crisis back to the 19th Century to explain the full dimensions of the dilemma.

Well done and eye opening! Should be mandatory reading for California students, and much of the west. People take so much for granted in this day and age. Loads of information in this book and very well researched.

All Americans should read this book. For some it will be an interesting tale on the old wild west and they'll subsequently lose interest, but it's important to read on to more deeply understand water resource management and the fragile foundation the American West was built upon.

The author did about seven or so years of research to write this book. It is an excellent book to find out about what happened with the water in California starting back 100 years ago. Really quite a learning curve reading this book.

It took Reisner 10 years to research the material for this book, and the result shows the careful work that he did prior to actually writing the book. It's such an interesting book because at times it is biography, at times geography, at times old west shooting war history: but always it is interesting and informative.

My only complaint is that his vocabulary is so brillantly huge, that I spent a lot of time in the dictionary.

Outstanding book.

Great research from Reisner. I have enjoyed every page and discovered many things about the status of the water grid of the western U.S.

I would highly recomment it.
I wish there was a newer version with more up to date figures.

Oscar

This is a well-researched book that tells the story of water development in the West and illustrates the fantastic schemes that, thankfully, are still on the drawing board and have virtually no chance of being implemented. But climate change paints an ominous picture of what will happen as the arid lands of the West become more arid as projected by climate change models. If you want to understand the amazing adventures of water development, you must read Mark Reisner's book Cadillac Desert.

Scary how the government has put us in this position. The book is from the 80s but narrates the dept of reclomation and corps of engineers has altered the landscape to help a few wealthy landowners in California. As a person that's lived in Yuma AZ and could not drink the water it was scary to see what has happened to our aquifers.

Reisner's meticulously researched story of dam building and irrigation projects is a classic. His detailed expose' of corporate welfare on a grand scale is a must read for anyone interested in how our tax dollars are misspent. The fast paced style with intriguing bio sketches will keep any reader engaged.

A few parts that are more biography than non-fiction dragged on, particularly the bit about Floyd Dominy. All told though, I can not believe what the USBR and Army Corps of Engineers have done in the name of public service. A MUST read if you want to be mad at the government and understand why things are the way they are in the Dry West.

This is a classic book that should be required reading for everybody. The history, the politics, the intrigues and personalities that shape water issues in the American West are detailed here in a highly readable text.

I have read this book several times, and found that it has an incredible amount
of data about the history of the water wars in the Western United States, and
the politics that went along with it.

This book was an excellent history of water development and the story depicting the damage to individuals, society, and the environment that has been the result. It exposes the arrogance and greed that has created many of our modern problems and explains how our government has provided subsidies and benefits to some few wealthy people and some large corporations at taxpayer expense.

Shocked and stunned are the reactions to Reisner's work. I knew about the water wars in the desert southwest before reading this magnificent piece of writing, but didn't really understand the intersection of federal, state, and local government policy, entrepreneurship, and civil engineering in bringing water to the western states. Reisner makes it all come to life, seamlessly, in a beautiful and fearful history. The rape of the Owens Valley was particularly fascinating for me, but there are many stories within the bigger story that will make you stop and think before you let your faucet run while brushing your teeth. Highly recommended--a must-read for every citizen of the U.S.