Rivers by Design: State Power and the Origins of U.S. Flood Control
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.97 (981 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0822337738 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 304 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-10-26 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
“Bold in its interpretation, sweeping in its scope, and judicious in its style, Rivers by Design argues convincingly that federal flood control policy, which culminated in the Flood Control Act of 1936, ended comprehensive resource planning at the federal level. This is an exciting and original study.”—Donald J. Pisani, author of Water and American Government: The Reclamation Bureau, National Water Policy, and the West, 1902–1935
Factually flawed, but still relevant Ed Rossman Tee-shirts have become a medium of social and political expression similar to bumper stickers, pamphlets, and fence post signs. Only weeks after the Hurricane Katrina, relief workers found a myriad of slogans regarding governmental handling of the disaster on tee shirts for sale at stores which once catered to tourists. Tank and halter tops on both sides of Bourbon Street displayed a slogan within a
The configuration of the current system continues to reflect decisions made in the nineteenth century and early twentieth. Rivers by Design traces the emergence of the mammoth U.S. 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.. 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. 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. 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. flood management system, which is overseen by the federal government but implemented in conjunction with state governments and local contractors and levee districts. 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. She describes how, in