Dam!: Water, Power, Politics, And Preservation In Hetch Hetchy And Yosemite National Park - Couverture rigide

Simpson, John Warfield

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0375422315 ISBN 13 : 9780375422317

Editeur : Pantheon Books, 2005

Synopsis

A lively study of America's first environmental battle describes how, in 1913, Congress authorized the construction of the Hetch Hetchy Dam and Reservoir within the bondaries of Yosemite National Park, chronicling the intrigues that surrounded the project, profiling participants in the debate, and the implications of Hetch Hetchy for American attitudes toward environmental stewardship. 10,000 first printing.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

A vivid account of America’s first environmental cause célèbre, which illuminates our attitudes toward fundamental questions of growth, development, and our place in nature.

The building of the O’Shaughnessy Dam and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in the middle of Yosemite National Park–despite the availability of less expensive, less technically challenging, and less politically complicated possibilities–set off a defining controversy in American environmentalism. From the early 1900s to 1913 Americans argued about proposals to dam the Tuolumne River and transform the extraordinary Hetch Hetchy Valley into a giant source of water and hydroelectric power for the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a story of intrigue replete with political scandals and suspect tactics played out in the corridors of Congress, in San Francisco’s City Hall and its corporate boardrooms, and in the national media. The colorful cast of characters includes Theodore Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, and John Muir, as well as a host of political bosses, West Coast boosters, East Coast patricians and publishers, big-business interests, newly formed environmental groups, and the American public.

Simpson also takes us through the building of the enormous dam and the extensive tunnels and aqueducts that carry water to the Bay Area, and the even more controversial hydroelectric project that still fails to deliver the “public” power that Congress mandated and about which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled. He recounts conversations with an array of people currently involved in the ongoing controversy over whether to manage, refurbish, repair, and enlarge the system, or to tear down the dam and restore the valley to its prior splendor. Simpson concludes with a reflection on what all of this reveals about American attitudes toward growth, development, and environmental stewardship.

Revue de presse

“A gripping account, studded with unforgettable characters, of how a classic national park was compromised in the clash between competing public goals and John Muir and Gifford Pinchot. Simpson puts the story in a large context and brings it up to date. Full of new information about workable alternatives. Thoroughly worthwhile.”
–Michael McCloskey, Executive Director, Sierra Club, 1969-85

“Professor Simpson vividly describes the classic American confrontation–wilderness versus civilization–in terms that are both scholarly and emotional. His book is all the more important in light of the current debate over the removal of the dam at Hetch Hetchy and the restoration of the Yosemite-like valley under its reservoir.”
–Dr. Roderick Frazier Nash, author of Wilderness and the American Mind

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Pantheon Books
• Date d'édition: 2005
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0375422315
• ISBN 13: 9780375422317
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 356
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible