num_pages: 582
description: The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruption and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecologic and economic disaster. In Cadillac Desert Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in the competition to transform the West.Based on more than a decade of research, Cadillac Desert is a stunning expose and a dramatic, intriguing history of the creation of an Eden—an Eden that may be only a mirage.
language: English
title: Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water
titlecomplete: Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water
genres: Environment, Politics, Ecology, Science, Economics, Nature, American History, Nonfiction, Westerns, History
ratings_count: 10652
awards: awardedAt: 504950400000
name: National Book Critics Circle Award
category: General Nonfiction
publisher: Penguin