Post #12

Water and the West
Reading

Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner

This weeks reading did an excellent job at openening up the eyes of the historian to the significance of water in the history of the American West. As Reisner takes the reader down the rivers of the West with John Wesley Powell and eventually takes the reader up to the dams that sought to control those rivers, the true significance of water upon the settlement and development of the West becomes very evident. I have to agree, in part, with the editors description of this work as "a stunning expose and dramatic, intriguing history of the creation of an Eden--and Eden that may be only a mirage." Unfortunately, the way in which the author frames his work and his use of historical method give this book a strong leaning in the expose camp.

The way in which the author sets up his study in the introduction makes this assessment fairly clear. From the introduction the reader very quickly gets a sense that this is more than an historical study. It is intended to provide the context for a current debate. For example, Reisner writes, "Perhaps, the despite fifty thousand major dams we have built in Merica; despite the fact that federal irrigation has, for the most part, been a horribly bad investment in free-market terms; despite the fact that the number of free-flowing rivers that remain in the West can be counted on two hands; perhaps, despite all of this, the grand adventure of playing God with our waters will go on." (Reisner 14) This statement seems to hold fairly clear message that the author is trying to find an answer to a current issue by looking at the historical record. The question the arises, is this a work of presentism or a sound historical analysis of a long running issue in the history of the West?

I should take a moment to comment on this approach. I believe that we would all agree that the use of history to enlighten our understanding of the present is clearly one of the reasons why the study of history is vitally important. The question is whether the author's purpose here is to let the past speak or to simply expose historical precedents that support his argument. There is a very fine, but significant, line here.

In this work, I believe that the author is attempting to stay within a sound historical approach. I also believe that he falls into a few historiographical pitfalls that weaken his historical foundation. First, Reisner tends to use language that leans towards the dramatic. The previous quote is one example, "the grand adventure of playing God with our waters..." (Reisner 14). He also makes comments such as, "the Apache and Comanche, soon evolved into the best horsemen who ever lived..." (Reisner 17). Such comments make for interesting reading but are slightly out of place in an historical work. Perhaps my analysis of his writing style was tainted by these early comments, but the presence of such dramatic exaggerations is made significantly more problematic when one considers Reisner's complete lack of citation.

Reisner does an acceptable job of putting together a bibliography in which he explains his general use of sources for each chapter. However, the lack of any internal citation pointing directly to the source of his supporting evidence significantly undermines the historical foundation of this work. Such a lack of clear citation should cause any historian to take a deeper look at the foundation upon which the author is building his or her argument. Unfortunately, that task is made problematic by that same lack of citation.

The combination of these factors; the slight presentist leaning, the exaggerated writing style, and the lack of internal citation should cause the historian to pause. I do not think that we should dismiss the work entirely. As I mentioned before, it does an excellent job of exposing the significance of water on the development of the West. Furthermore, the author does write an interesting narrative of that development. I do suggest that we take into account the works historical shortcoming and take a cautious look at his work.