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Unruly Waters: A Social and Environmental History of the Brazos River
Contributor(s): Archer, Kenna Lang (Author)
ISBN: 0826355870     ISBN-13: 9780826355874
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
OUR PRICE:   $39.60  
Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats
Published: May 2015
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States - State & Local - Southwest (az, Nm, Ok, Tx)
Dewey: 976.4
LCCN: 2014031881
Physical Information: 0.96" H x 6.46" W x 8.71" (1.24 lbs) 288 pages
Themes:
- Cultural Region - Southwest U.S.
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Running more than 1,200 miles from headwaters in eastern New Mexico through the middle of Texas to the Gulf of Mexico, the Brazos River has frustrated developers for nearly two centuries. This environmental history of the Brazos traces the techniques that engineers and politicians have repeatedly used to try to manage its flow. The vast majority of projects proposed or constructed in this watershed were failures, undone by the geology of the river as much as the cost of improvement. When developers erected locks, the river changed course. When they built large-scale dams, floodwaters overflowed the concrete rims. When they constructed levees, the soils collapsed. Yet lawmakers and laypeople, boosters and engineers continued to work toward improving the river and harnessing it for various uses. Through the plight of the Brazos River Archer illuminates the broader commentary on the efforts to tame this nation's rivers as well as its historical perspectives on development and technology. The struggle to overcome nature, Archer notes, reflects a quintessentially American faith in technology.


Contributor Bio(s): Archer, Kenna Lang: -

Kenna Lang Archer is an instructor in the Department of History at Angelo State University.