Research Catalog
Irrigated Eden : the making of an agricultural landscape in the American West
- Title
- Irrigated Eden : the making of an agricultural landscape in the American West / Mark Fiege ; foreword by William Cronon.
- Author
- Fiege, Mark.
- Publication
- Seattle : University of Washington Press, [1999], ©1999.
Items in the Library & Off-site
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1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Request in advance | S616.U6 F54 1999 | Off-site |
Details
- Description
- xv, 323 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps; 25 cm.
- Summary
- Irrigation came to the arid West in a wave of optimism about the power of water to make the desert bloom. Mark Flege's study of irrigation in southern Idaho's Snake River valley describes a complex interplay of human and natural systems. Using vast quantities of labor, irrigators built dams, excavated canals, laid out farms, and brought millions of acres into cultivation. But at each step, nature rebounded and compromised their intended agricultural order.
- The result was a new and richly textured landscape made of layer upon layer of technology and intractable natural forces - one that engineers and farmers did not control with the precision they had anticipated. Irrigated Eden is an unusual and absorbing work, important to anyone interested in western U.S. history, environmental history, or the human-nature relationship.
- Series Statement
- Weyerhaeuser environmental books
- Uniform Title
- Weyerhaeuser environmental book.
- Subjects
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 277-309) and index.
- Contents
- Foreword / William Cronon -- Introduction: Discovering the Irrigated Landscape -- 1. Genesis: Water, Earth, and Irrigation Systems -- 2. Habitat: The Irrigated Landscape and Its Biota -- 3. Dividing Water: Conflict, Cooperation, and Allocation on the Upper Snake River -- 4. Labor and Landscape: Irrigated Agriculture and Work -- 5. From Field to Market: Agricultural Production in the Irrigated Landscape -- 6. Industrial Eden: Myth, Metaphor, and the Irrigated Landscape -- Conclusion: A World in the Making.
- ISBN
- 0295977574 (alk. paper)
- LCCN
- 98050247
- OCLC
- ocm40408720
- Owning Institutions
- Columbia University Libraries