Elixir A History of Water and Humankind

by Fagan, Brian

• ISBN13: 9781608193370
• ISBN10: 1608193373
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-06-05
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Press

Summary

Elixirspans five millennia, from ancient Mesopotamia to the parched present of the Sun Belt. As Brian Fagan shows, every human society has been shaped by its relationship to our most essential resource. Fagan's sweeping narrative moves across the world, from ancient Greece and 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. He sets out three ages of water: In the first age, lasting thousands of years, water was scarce or at best unpredictable-so precious that it became sacred in almost every culture. By the time of the Industrial Revolution, human ingenuity had made water flow even in the most arid landscapes.This was the second age: water was no longer a mystical force to be worshipped and husbanded, but a commodity to be exploited. The American desert glittered with swimming pools- with little regard for sustainability. Today, we are entering a third age of water: As the earth's population approaches nine billion and ancient aquifers run dry,we will have to learn once again to show humility, even reverence, for this vital liquid. To solve the water crises of the future, we may need to adapt the water ethos of our ancestors.

Author Biography

Brian Fagan's books include the New York Times bestseller The Great Warming, Cro-Magnon, Fish on Friday, and several works on climate history, including The Little Ice Age and The Long Summer. He is emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Visit his website at www.brianfagan.com.

Table of Contents

"Eye-opening . . . Making sense of water and its place in the development of civilization . . . [Fagan] understands how the ancients struggled with changing climate and that what matters has always been the fluctuating availability of water, rather than shifting temperatures. That is an important lesson for us now." —Washington Post

"A rewarding survey of water’s role in history and contemporary politics alike." —Kirkus Reviews