Martin Doyle

How rivers have shaped American politics, economics, and society from the beginnings of the Republic to today.

How Rivers Made America and America Remade Its Rivers

The Source

Dana Kraft

This is not a romantic trip through beautiful American rivers. It’s all business, and tells stories that aren’t often told about how rivers shaped our history. In that way it was quite interesting. The things I’ll remember are how much of our current legal approach to private property was formed by efforts to control or own the land under rivers and the water that flowed through rivers. It does go pretty deep into public finance in some areas because water infrastructure requires so much investment. I could have done without some of that stuff. It definitely gave me a fresh perspective on some aspects of our country’s history but I wouldn’t call it a page-turner.

The Source How Rivers Made America and America Remade Its Rivers

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