Description
Rivers in History presents one of the first comparative histories of rivers on the continents of Europe and North America in the modern age. The contributors examine the impact of rivers on humans and, conversely, the impact of humans on rivers. They view this dynamic relationship through political, cultural, industrial, social, and ecological perspectives in national and transnational settings.
As integral sources of food and water, local and international transportation, recreation, and aesthetic beauty, rivers have dictated where cities have risen, and in times of flooding, drought, and war, where they've fallen. Modern Western civilizations have sought to control rivers by channeling them for irrigation, raising and lowering them in canal systems, and damming them for power generation.
Contributors analyze the regional, national, and international politicization of rivers, the use and treatment of waterways in urban versus rural environments, and the increasing role of international commissions in ecological and commercial legislation for the protection of river resources. Case studies include the Seine in Paris, the Mississippi, the Volga, the Rhine, and the rivers of Pittsburgh. Rivers in History is a broad environmental history of waterways that makes a major contribution to the study, preservation, and continued sustainability of rivers as vital lifelines of Western culture.
About the Author
Christof Mauch is professor of North American cultural, social, and political history and transatlantic relations at the Amerika-Institut, Ludwig-Maximilians-UniversitSt in Munich, Germany. He is a former director of the German Historical Institute in Was Thomas Zeller is associate professor of history at the University of Maryland. He is the author of Driving Germany: The Landscape of the German Autobahn, 1930-1970.
Book Information
ISBN 9780822959885
Author Christof Mauch
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint University of Pittsburgh Press
Publisher University of Pittsburgh Press