Cadillac Desert: The American West And Its Disa... May 2026

Many projects, while costing taxpayers billions, disproportionately benefited a small number of large-scale farmers who relied on artificially cheap water.

Marc Reisner's (1986) is a seminal work of environmental history and advocacy journalism that remains more pertinent than ever. It chronicles the aggressive, often hubristic transformation of the arid American West into a "garden" through massive engineering and political maneuvering. Core Themes and Arguments Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disa...

The quest for water led to the systematic displacement of rural and indigenous communities, such as the diversion of water from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles and the flooding of tribal lands for the Garrison Dam . 'Cadillac Desert' Reconsidered - The American Prospect while costing taxpayers billions