Water, land, and law in the West
Subtitle: the limits of public policy, 1850-1920
By: Donald J. Pisani ; foreword by Hal K. Rothman.
Series: Development of western resources
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Lawrence
Language: eng
Number of pages: 273
Subjects: Water-supply -- Government policy -- West (U.S.) -- History; Water rights -- West (U.S.) -- History; Riparian rights -- West (U.S.) -- History; Land use -- Government policy -- West (U.S.) -- History; Conservation of natural resources -- Government policy -- West (U.S.) -- History; Water -- Law and legislation -- West (U.S.) -- History; Conservation of natural resources -- Law and legislation -- West (U.S.) -- History
Description: This volume features the best and most influential essays by Donald J. Pisani, one of our nation's leading environmental and western historians. Collectively, the essays highlight the central role played by land, water, and timber allocation in the American West and show how efforts to achieve justice and efficiency were compromised by the region's obsession with achieving rapid economic growth.

Pisani's work underscores the importance of natural resources to the American vision of opportunity and social progress, as well as the limits of federal influence in resolving the complex tensions between national and local control, between government regulation and laissez-faire capitalism, between democratic and corporate power, and between development and conservation.

Pisani reminds us that westerners, ever wary of any form of centralized planning, have been far more supportive of the marketplace than government direction, and he demonstrates just how difficult it is to alter natural resource policies to keep pace with changing times and values. For those already familiar with Pisani or those coming to him for the first time, this is an invaluable volume.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-258) and index.