Structures in the stream

Name: Structures in the stream
Author: Todd Shallat
ISBN: 0292776799

by Todd Shallat (1994)

Read Free Sample Buy on Amazon Audible Free Trial

About this book

As the Mississippi and other midwestern rivers inundated town after town during the summer of 1993, concerned and often angry citizens questioned whether the very technologies and structures intended to "tame" the rivers did not, in fact, increase the severity of the floods. Much of the controversy swirled around the apparent culpability of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the designer and builder of many of the flood control systems that failed. In this book, Todd Shallat probes the origins of the United States' oldest and largest water management agency and explores how the Corps' emphasis on scientific planning cut against the grain of a nation deeply committed to private enterprise and community rights. Combining extensive research with a lively, engaging style, Shallat follows the technological elite of the army from European antecedents through the boom years of river building after the Civil War. He tells the story of monumental construction and engineering fiascoes, public service and public corruption, and the rise of science and the army expert as agents of the state. Information on engineering during the Civil War, the influence of women and family on the political and organizational philosophy of the Corps, and numerous historical illustrations add interesting highlights to the story. . Much more than an institutional history, Structures in the Stream offers significant insights into American society, which has alternately supported the massive public works projects that are a legacy of our French heritage and opposed them based on the democratic, individualist tradition inherited from Britain. It will provide important reading for a wide audience in environmental and military history, the history of science and technology, policy studies, and American cultural history.

Setting / LocationLondon & UK

Story EraModern Era

Protagonist / CoreStructures in the stream Lead Character

Themes & Moods

History French influences Water resources development Political aspects of Water resources development United States Civilization Modern Era

Readers who enjoyed this also loved

Roman and civil law and the development of Anglo-American jurisprudence in the nineteenth century

M.H. Hoeflich

Seeking to fill a gap in our knowledge of the legal history of the nineteenth century, this volume studies the influence of Roman and civil law upon the development of common law jurisdictions in the United States and in Great Britain. Hoeflich examines the writings of a variety of prominent Anglo-American legal theorists to show how Roman and civil law helped common law thinkers develop their own theories. Intellectual leaders in law in the United States and Great Britain used Roman and civil law in different ways at different times. The views of these lawyers were greatly respected even by non-lawyers, and most of them wrote to influence a wider public. By filling in the gaps in the history of jurisprudence, this volume also provides greater understanding of the development of Anglo-American culture and society.

The dawn's early light

Walter Lord

The climactic shaping of "the land of the free" during the hazardous events of 1814 in Washington, Baltimore, and London.

The Four Nations

Frank Welsh

"In The Four Nations, Frank Welsh offers a lively narrative history of the four component parts of the British Isles - England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Moving from the Roman period, which first defined many of the current internal boundaries, through the present day, Welsh describes the history of each nation, their interactions, and the impacts of crises ranging from the Norman Invasion to the Protestant Reformation to the two world wars of the twentieth century. Along the way, Welsh questions many cherished illusions and poses some awkward questions: to what extent were Scotland, Ireland, and Wales victims of predatory English aggression? How serious is the frequently invoked specter of national fragmentation?"--Jacket.

Galiene

Dawn Hammill

"Rumours of war are buzzing around her, yet the young healer who wrote those words could not have imagined the catastrophic changes that were coming that day. Before the morning is over, her home is in flames, her family is dead and she is taken captive by the Scottish army that invaded northern England in 1138. This is her remarkable story of loss, survival and love."