Title
Elixir : a history of water and humankind / Brian Fagan.
Variant Title
Human history of water
Edition
1st U.S. ed.
ISBN
9781608190034 (alk. paper)
160819003X (alk. paper)
Publication Details
New York : Bloomsbury Press, 2011.
Language
English
Description
xxvii, 384 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm.
Call Number
GB671 .F34 2011
Dewey Decimal Classification
553.7
Summary
The story of our most vital resource, and how it has shaped the history of every human society, spans five millennia, from ancient Mesopotamia to the parched Sun Belt, from ancient Rome, whose mighty aqueducts still supply modern cities, to China, where emperors marshaled armies of laborers in a centuries-long struggle to tame powerful rivers. Anthropologist Fagan sets out three ages of water: In the first, lasting thousands of years, water was scarce--so precious that it became sacred in almost every culture. By the time of the Industrial Revolution, human ingenuity had brought water to the most arid landscapes. This was the second age: water as commodity. Even bone-dry regions like the American Southwest glittered with swimming pools and golf courses. Today, we are entering a third age: as our population approaches nine billion and ancient aquifers run dry, we must learn once again to treat this essence of life with humility, even reverence.--From publisher description.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Canals, furrows, and rice paddies. The elixir of life ; Farmers and furrows ; "Whoever has a channel has a wife" ; Hohokam : "Something that is all gone" ; The power of the waters
Waters from afar. Landscapes of Enlil ; The lands of Enki ; "I caused a canal to be cut" ; The waters of Zeus ; Aquae Romae
Cisterns and monsoons. Waters that purify ; China's sorrow
Ancient American hydrologists. The water lily lords ; Triumphs of gravity
Gravity and beyond. The waters of Islam ; "Lifting power
more certain than that of a hundred men" ; Mastery?
