Water

more than an inert backdrop on the stage of human events. That illusion is created because of the forty-five thousand structures taller than fifteen meters that dam the rivers of the world, a number that grows to millions if all barrages cluttering streams are counted. This enormous stock of infrastructure is capable of catching around 20 percent of the world s annual runoff, the water that collects in rivers and streams across all lands. Modern water infrastructure has replumbed the planet. Three Gorges Dam is one of the latest additions to this vast stock, proof that this modern story of progress has yet to fully run its course. Technology enthusiasts celebrate its achievement, while environmentalists bemoan its impacts. Either way, it is the story of a technological emancipation from nature, in which science and engineering have given humanity, for better or for worse, full control over its own destiny.
 
This story is familiar. It is also wrong. The story of water is not technological, but political. The impact of water on society must be read through the scars left by a continuous cycle of adaptation. All communities relate to water over time through a process of action and reaction. A levee might protect people settled behind it. A dam might store water for those times when none comes from the sky. But as towns grow and farms expand, people forget why those structures were built in the first place. Society evolves and habituates to its newfound security. Institutions develop in the shadow of infrastructure designed to create an illusion of stability. Then one day, unexpectedly, the levee fails or the reservoir behind the dam goes dry. Loss follows, sometimes catastrophically. People are forced to reconsider their environment, which is no longer the inert scenery to their life. They learn, rebuild, expand, reaching a new level of security. Their institutions adjust, habits change. The cycle repeats.
 
Technol

history of the world, seen through the history of water management. He shows, with clarity and erudition, how this is in reality a political, not a technological issue. Throughout history, humans have tried to conquer water, but water always wins; and it would be better for humanity if we realised it. The book is a real tour de force; it should be essential reading for every politician, as well as the rest of us. Chris Wickham, Chichele Professor of Medieval History, University of Oxford

A masterly, compelling history of the relationship between society and water. It weaves politics, history, and science in a riveting narrative that spans millennia. Giulio Boccaletti has spent years working on water issues at the highest level and it shows. This is a monumental work, which is a must read for anyone wanting to understand the role of water in human history. Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman Emeritus, Nestlé Group
 
A leading expert has now shown us he's also a great storyteller. Giulio Boccaletti tackles the most important story of our time: our relationship with water in a world of looming scarcity.  Kelly McEvers, NPR Host
 
Giulio Boccaletti makes a strikingly original and persuasive case that the history of human civilization can be understood as a never-ending struggle over water. Boccaletti s command of a vast range of material, across time and space, is astonishing.  Nicholas Lemann, Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor of Journalism, Columbia University.
 
It was an inspired idea to write a biography of water and Giulio Boccaletti has carried it off in style. His book is impressively global in scope. It ranges from the earliest human societies to questions of water security in our own time, combining bold lines of argument with compelling examples. Ambitious, assured and very well written, Water: A Biography is an impressive and very welcome addition to the literature. David Blackbourn, Cornelius Vanderbilt Distinguished Chair of History, Vanderbilt University.
 
In this deeply researched and vivid story, Giulio Boccaletti deftly reveals how the struggle to master water is also the root of all organized society. From antiquity to today s precipice of water scarcity, he spins a dramatic, sweeping story that forces the reader to reappraise all of human history through a water lens. A transformative, dramatic and revelatory tale of how our struggle to master water defines us as humans. John Bredar, Vice-President for National Programming, WGBH
 
What makes this fascinating book stand out from other accounts of how water has shaped human history across the ages is Boccaletti s brilliant and nuanced treatment of the political and economic dimensions of water s role in history. The breadth and substance of the narrative are outstanding. The book is a tour de force! Michael Hanemann, Julie A. Wrigley Chair in Sustainability, Arizona State
 
The story of Water is our story. Giulio Boccaletti takes us on an extraordinary journey through water history, from the retreating glaciers of the ice age which shaped the landscape and the livelihoods of local communities, to the emergence of nation states and the industrialised world, presided over by democrats, despots and dreamers. This book is a cautionary tale for our times Alan Yentob, BBC Producer and Presenter
 
As humanity strays across planetary boundaries, Boccaletti s political biography of water is essential reading. This bold and ambitious saga offers important lessons and instils humility in the reader, both of which we need as we face the dangers of increasing pressure on nature, climate change, and corrosive inequality. Rachel Kyte, Dean, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
 
A dazzling tale spanning millennia, geography, science, and human civilizations, that is more than the story of water. It is a story of ideas and institutions; of tensions between individual enterprise and collective action; of human needs and planetary dynamics. I am astonished at its breadth, depth, and scholarship, at once encyclopaedic yet also highly readable. Lynn Scarlett, Chief External Affairs Officer, The Nature Conservancy
 
Magisterial.  Boccaletti has pinned down our complex relationship with our most vital resource. We live, like the ancients, in a hydraulic civilization one determined to a remarkable degree by where and when we can find water.  As he reveals with startling clarity, we face a water crisis as profound as our climate crisis.  The fate of the Anthropocene hangs on the fate of water. Fred Pearce, author of When The Rivers Run Dry
 
Excellent. Boccaletti takes the reader on a polyglot tour de force that shows how the flow of human history, economics and geopolitics is utterly connected to the constant blue thread of our need for water. Water A Biography poses challenging questions about how best to secure our water future and, as a result, ensure our very existence. Dominic Waughray, Managing Director, World Economic Forum

Water could have no better biographer than Giulio Boccaletti who takes us on a fascinating journey, telling the story of how humanity's interactions with this most precious resource have shaped our history, our present, and will define our future.  Brilliant and enlightening. Eric D. Beinhocker, Professor, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
 
"A tour de force world history focused on water and how we use it . . . Ingenious" Kirkus Reviews (starred)