Cadillac Desert, Revised and Updated Edition

The American West and Its Disappearing Water

By: Marc Reisner

Narrated by: Joe Spieler, Kate Udall

The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruptions and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecologic and economic disaster. In Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants, the Bureau of Reclamation and the US Army Corps of Engineers, in the competition to transform the West.

Based on more than a decade of research, Cadillac Desert is a stunning exposé and a dramatic, intriguing history of the creation of Eden - an Eden that may be only a mirage.

©2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Amazing Story of the American West

Knew there was an occasional water shortage in California. Didn’t know how greed and politics had twisted things so much. How bad it has gotten. Some what of a happy ending. But there is a long way to go. Hopefully nature will recover when we get our act together. This book changes the way we should think about water usage everywhere.

Required Reading

What an amazing encyclopedia of information on the development of the American West. This book includes great miniature geologic histories, histories of huge bureaucracies, and yet very detailed points water resources and their management.

This book was very well investigated and reported. The author does get a little editorial at times, especially when talking about whether or not the investment was worth it, but that's easy to overlook given the obvious amount of work that went into this book.

Like others have stated, the audio is hard to get used to.

The only downside is that the book was written so long ago...so much history to catch up on since the writing in this book. The 2017 update is okay, but certainly missing the Marc Reisner command of information.

I would mark this as a must for educational reading.

Stunning information and realization

My actions are forever changed relative to conservation living in the American West. Thank You Marc for your effort to put this exhaustive research together in a sensible manner for the common citizen to realize we can make a small difference in our dialing living. How do we proliferate this into the mainstream?

awesome book

been waiting for this book to come out on audible for a few years now I give it a 5 star rating only because I can't give it a 6 star awesome book tones of info.

Great insight to many current challenges

Worthwhile history and futuristic extrapolation for all interested in bipartisan waste of our scarce resources.

Great story, death rattle narration.

Joe Spieler's narration is like listening to a man on his death bed gasping for breath, who beckons you to lean forward to hear his last critically-important sentence. And you do it because you really need the information, but it takes 28 hours of painfully listening to that freaking death rattle to get it. And you are glad you got the information because it is really amazing necessary stuff, but you can never quite get that rasping breathy hiss out of your head. On top of that he often mispronounces words, like JOB's Daughters. Whyyyyy. On the other hand, the content of this book was awesome. I am glad for the education, and quite the eye-opening education this is. It has always been the location of water that shapes our world, but I never appreciated how wealth, greed and arrogance shapes who gets to use it. The audacity of humans to divert and harness water simply because they can, begs the very large question of whether they should. This book is a great historical account of how water created the west and the west created water.

Decades after the author's death, it seems the water interests may have weaseled the last word into the post script.

Very detailed, disturbing and eye-opening. This is one of those books you can read repeatedly and glean something new each time.

Listening to the postscript though, I have a sense the author is rolling in his grave.
The narrator asserts people in the SW are using "much less water" than in times past—which may be true, but then she seems to blame continued scarcity on drought and changing weather patterns. These are circumstances that make the problem worse, but they don't address the true problem: That of overuse. The narrator goes on to justify the squandering of water (the fountains of the Bellagio, for example) because "every drop" happens to be recycled. 

Marc Reisner's message ultimately goes back to this: We're using more than is available.

Decades after his death, it seems the water interests may have weaseled the last word into the post script.

Riveting!

Well written and fascinating history. Highly recommended. Unbelievable story of greed, bureaucracy, waste with spots of genius and truly captivating engineering feats.

long book, speaker's voice hard to hear while driv

long, comprehensive study of water in the American west, strong stance against dams and water development. as a resident of Los Angeles I've never felt more scolded.

the speaker's voice is soft and raspy and very hard to hear over background noise, such as in a car.

A Wonderful Read!

This book is a captivating blend of history, political science, and natural history. Regardless of your political perspective, the book is a fascinating review of ‘Big Government’ programs that ran amok to the chagrin of nearly everyone at one time or another.

The updates are helpful, bringing the book current to 2017.