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

I read this because it was mentioned in The Water Knife. Found it excellent and I learned a lot about American history. Highly recommended.

M.A.S.T agri student scheme brought me to California in Year 2 around 1991. Good to read now from you book,my stay then & apt today. Well presentedUK farmer

A very interesting history of water mismanagement in the States.

Brilliant factual account of the development of the American mid-West and the various players and forces at play. Well worth a re-read.

A fascinating insight, written in fine style

This book is easily one of the best books I've ever read (several thousand), fiction or non fiction. Shocking, remarkable, detailed, surprising, humorous (very very beautifully added humour), insightful, and again, shocking. The historical insight into the US history alone is easily worth it (I'm UK), then the geography, then the shocking politics (nothing changes, but you can see from whence it came). The science! The history of irrigation across the planet (for eg, I always thought the Aswan High Dam was a good thing, now I know) Brilliantly written. A remarkable book. Ridiculously good book.

Geat book

Reisner's account of the American West's water wars is massively well researched and dramatically written. He explores the financial, political, and social forces demanding that a watered West be somehow engineered. The water was procured for those who could command it or pay for it, and of course there were losers all over the West. The book captures a whole era in all it's glorious unsustainability, and it was written before the age of great dams was clearly done. The only daunting thing for a non-engineering-literate reader like myself is Reisner's constant reference to figures and statistics, which ram his points home with numbers slightly beyond my comprehension.

After reading The Water Knife, I wanted more. A lot more! And boy did I get it! Mr. Bacigaluoi did not exaggerate about how good this book is. It's a thesis on water in the West. Many people have summarized the book very well, so I won't try to duplicate their work.What I will say is this: Occasionally, you get a glimpse into a brilliant brain, and find it hard to believe that someone could dig so deeply. Most people in the US have never researched an issue for more than 30 minutes. Personally, had the privilege of spending three years looking at an esoteric protein for my PhD. I emerged as the reigning monarch of that stupid protein for all of a month before I was dethroned. So I thought I understood "deep." I was woefully unprepared for this level of DEEP!!!Holy wow!!! To say this work is brilliant is underselling it in the extreme. This is a literal life's work of love and passion, not repeatble by any living human today. It's special. VERY special. It's well-written, well-edited (which is a really nice surprise in today's market), and holds the attention easily. I couldn't put it down. There's something very attractive about getting a glimpse into such a beautiful mind.Thank you Mr. Bacigaluoi for directing me to this book. I won't forget the favor if you ever need anything!

excellent livre, bien écrit, avec un prise d'humour, très bien documenté. Retrace deux siècles de civilisation états-unienne dans le Sud-Ouest (Great Desert) dans le contexte plus vaste de la lutte civilisatrice contre la nature (irriguer et urbaniser le désert). Un chapitre du Homo Deus états-unien, avec, en arrière-plan, un fonctionnement presque mafieux des institutions (les deux principaux ingrédients: money and power). Et une prévision plutôt catastrophique: re-désertification.

I think that most people think that irrigation is good, no matter what. The author revisits this "cliché" through the history of irrigation in western USA and demonstrate the folly in many such endeavors. The book, published in 1985 and reprinted in 2017, is incredibly detailed and well researched.

Cadillac Desert is one of the most important books I have read this year. It provides a comprehensive discussion of the water-related challenges of the American West and it leaves the reader feeling very unsettled and concerned for the future of America. It provides a unique perspective on the history of the American West and illuminates both state and federal government agencies most people have probably ignored up until now. Finally, the book is beautifully written.The book was originally written in the 1980s but was reissued in 2017 with a new afterword to catch you up in what happened since the book was originally published.

I really like this book, it's so interesting and informative.