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Water : a biography / Giulio Boccaletti.

Summary:
"In this richly narrated and authoritative work--combining environmental and societal history--Giulio Boccaletti begins with the earliest civilizations of sedentary farmers on the banks of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. He describes how these societies were made possible by sea level changes from the last glacial melt. He examines how this sedentary farming led to irrigation and multiple cropping, which, in turn, resulted in an explosion in population and the specialization of labor. We see how irrigation structure led to social structure--inventions like the calendar sprung from agricultural necessity; how, in Ancient Greece, communal ownership of wells laid the groundwork for democracy; how the Greek and Roman experience dealing with water security was the seed for tax systems. And he makes clear how the modern world as we know it began with a legal structure for the development of water infrastructure. In its scope and clarity, Water: A Biography provides a fascinating framework through which we can more fully understand society's relationship to, and fundamental reliance on, the most elemental substance on our planet"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781524748234
  • ISBN: 1524748234
  • Physical Description: xiv, 378 pages : color maps ; 25 cm
  • Edition: First edition.
  • Publisher: New York : Pantheon Books, [2021]

Content descriptions

General Note:
Map on liner papers.
Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references (pages [331]-358) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:
Part I -- Origins -- Standing still in a world of moving water -- The rise of the hydraulic state -- Bronze Age globalization -- An article of faith -- The politics of Water -- Res Publica -- Part II -- A thousand years of convergence -- Fragments of the past -- The republic returns -- Water sovereignty -- American river republic -- Global water empire -- The great Utopian synthesis -- Part III -- The hydraulic century -- Setting the stage for revolution -- Crisis and its discontent -- industrializing modernity -- FDR's modernization project -- Cold War -- The great acceleration -- The end of an era -- Part IV -- Finale -- A world of scarcity -- A planetary experiment -- Coda -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.
Subject: Water > History.
Water > Political aspects > History.
Water-supply.
Water security.
Water.

Available copies

  • 8 of 8 copies available at SPARK Libraries.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 8 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Cambria County Library 909 B664w (Text) 85131001795112 CACM Non-Fiction Available -
Gettysburg Library 909 BOCCALETTI (Text)
Endowment: Althea Schildknecht Named Endowment, 2021
35740635776743 Nonfiction Available -
Lower Macungie Library 909 BOC (Text) 33400001527210 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Parkland Community Library 909 BOC (Text) 34422007232990 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Reading Public Library RPL - Main 909 Boc (Text) 33223008716457 Non-fiction Available -
Spring Township Library 909 BOC (Text) 33249024566774 Non-fiction Available -
Allentown Public Library 909 BOCC (Text) 34455006830232 Adult Nonfiction 1st FL Available -
Bethlehem Main Library 909 (Text) 33062009497802 Adult Nonfiction Available -

Summary: "In this richly narrated and authoritative work--combining environmental and societal history--Giulio Boccaletti begins with the earliest civilizations of sedentary farmers on the banks of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. He describes how these societies were made possible by sea level changes from the last glacial melt. He examines how this sedentary farming led to irrigation and multiple cropping, which, in turn, resulted in an explosion in population and the specialization of labor. We see how irrigation structure led to social structure--inventions like the calendar sprung from agricultural necessity; how, in Ancient Greece, communal ownership of wells laid the groundwork for democracy; how the Greek and Roman experience dealing with water security was the seed for tax systems. And he makes clear how the modern world as we know it began with a legal structure for the development of water infrastructure. In its scope and clarity, Water: A Biography provides a fascinating framework through which we can more fully understand society's relationship to, and fundamental reliance on, the most elemental substance on our planet"--

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