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Book Cover for: A Ditch in Time: The City, the West, and Water, Patricia Nelson Limerick

A Ditch in Time: The City, the West, and Water

Patricia Nelson Limerick

Finalist:Colorado Book Award -History (2013)
Tracing the origins and growth of the Denver Water Department, this study of water and its unique role and history in the West, as well as in the nation, raises questions about the complex relationship among cities, suburbs, and rural areas, allowing us to consider this precious resource and its past, present, and future with both optimism and realism.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing
  • Publish Date: Jul 1st, 2012
  • Pages: 327
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.90in - 6.00in - 1.10in - 1.40lb
  • EAN: 9781555913663
  • Categories: United States - State & Local - West (AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MTEnvironmental - Water SupplyHistorical Geography

About the Author

Patricia Nelson Limerick is the faculty director and board chair of the Center of the American West at Colorado University, where she is also a professor of history and environmental studies. She has received a MacArthur Fellowship and a number of other awards and honors. She currently serves as the vice president for the Teaching Division of the American Historical Association. Her most widely read book, The Legacy of Conquest, is in its twenty-fifth year of publication. Jason L. Hanson is a member of the research faculty at the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where his work focuses on natural resource use and the environment. He lives in Denver.

More books by Patricia Nelson Limerick

Book Cover for: The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West, Patricia Nelson Limerick
Book Cover for: The Frontier in American Culture, Richard White
Book Cover for: Something in the Soil: Legacies and Reckonings in the New West, Patricia Nelson Limerick
Book Cover for: All Over the Map: Rethinking American Regions, Edward L. Ayers
Book Cover for: Desert Passages: Encounters with the American Deserts, Patricia Nelson Limerick
Book Cover for: This Land: A History of the United States, Volume 1, Philip J. Deloria

Praise for this book

"The first book in 25 years by MacArthur-winning historian Limerick is an entertaining history of the Denver Water Board. (Stealing, even stealing water, is always good copy.) Best of all, this deftly wrought history banishes our complacency about where water originates." --"The Daily Beast"

"Historian Patricia Nelson Limerick has done the impossible. She's made a history of the Denver Water Department interesting." --"The Denver Post"

"Limerick offers a thought-provoking look at the complex and, at times, surprising relationship between the development of western cities and water. The author is known for her ability to speak to both the academy and general audiences. For example, in her celebrated book "The Legacy of Conquest" she shook the academy with a reinterpretation of the history of the American West. She does not disappoint her readers in "A Ditch in Time". Through the case of the development of Denver, Colorado waterworks, Limerick meticulously details the coevolution of hydrologic technology and urban planning. Those that follow her detailed history, from the early 19th century up to present times, are rewarded with a greater understanding of and appreciation for what she calls "envirotech" history. This book demonstrates her continued emphasis on "applying historical perspective to contemporary dilemmas and conflicts." Interesting photographs, useful maps, and 20-plus pages of notes support the text. Summing Up Highly recommended." --"CHOICE"
Winner of the 2014 Barbara Sudler Award given by History Colorado
"The first book in 25 years by MacArthur-winning historian Limerick is an entertaining history of the Denver Water Board. (Stealing, even stealing water, is always good copy.) Best of all, this deftly wrought history banishes our complacency about where water originates." "The Daily Beast"
"Historian Patricia Nelson Limerick has done the impossible. She's made a history of the Denver Water Department interesting." "The Denver Post"
"Limerick offers a thought-provoking look at the complex and, at times, surprising relationship between the development of western cities and water. The author is known for her ability to speak to both the academy and general audiences. For example, in her celebrated book "The Legacy of Conquest" she shook the academy with a reinterpretation of the history of the American West. She does not disappoint her readers in "A Ditch in Time." Through the case of the development of Denver, Colorado waterworks, Limerick meticulously details the coevolution of hydrologic technology and urban planning. Those that follow her detailed history, from the early 19th century up to present times, are rewarded with a greater understanding of and appreciation for what she calls "envirotech" history. This book demonstrates her continued emphasis on "applying historical perspective to contemporary dilemmas and conflicts." Interesting photographs, useful maps, and 20-plus pages of notes support the text. Summing Up Highly recommended." "CHOICE"
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