Rivers by Design: State Power And The Origins Of U.S. Flood Control - Couverture souple

O'neill, Karen M.

 
9780822337737: Rivers by Design: State Power And The Origins Of U.S. Flood Control
Couverture souple
ISBN 10 : 0822337738 ISBN 13 : 9780822337737
Editeur : Duke University Press, 2006

Synopsis

The United States has one of the largest and costliest flood control systems in the world, even though only a small proportion of its land lies in floodplains. Rivers by Design traces the emergence of the mammoth U.S. flood management system, which is overseen by the federal government but implemented in conjunction with state governments and local contractors and levee districts. Karen M. O'Neill analyzes the social origins of the flood control program, showing how the system initially developed as a response to the demands of farmers and the business elite in outlying territories. The configuration of the current system continues to reflect decisions made in the nineteenth century and early twentieth. It favors economic development at the expense of environmental concerns.

O'Neill focuses on the creation of flood control programs along the lower Mississippi River and the Sacramento River, the first two rivers to receive federal flood control aid. She describes how, in the early to mid-nineteenth century, planters, shippers, and merchants from both regions campaigned for federal assistance with flood control efforts. She explains how the federal government was slowly and reluctantly drawn into water management to the extent that, over time, nearly every river in the United States was reengineered. Her narrative culminates in the passage of the national Flood Control Act of 1936, which empowered the Army Corps of Engineers to build projects for all navigable rivers in conjunction with local authorities, effectively ending nationwide, comprehensive planning for the protection of water resources.

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À propos de l?auteur

Karen M. O'Neill is Assistant Professor of Human Ecology and an associate member of the Graduate Program in Sociology at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
Duke University Press
Date d'édition
2006
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
0822337738
ISBN 13 
9780822337737
Reliure
Broché
Nombre de pages
302
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
gpsr@libri.de
gpsr@libri.de

Friedensallee 273
Hamburg
22763
Allemagne

Autres éditions populaires du même titre

9780822337607: Rivers by Design: State Power And the Origins of U.S. Flood Control

Edition présentée

ISBN 10 :  0822337606 ISBN 13 :  9780822337607
Editeur : Duke University Press, 2006
Couverture rigide