High and Dry: The Texas-New Mexico Struggle for the Pecos River
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.41 (629 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0826324290 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 303 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 0000-00-00 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Absorbing (pun intended). Book is both excellent and timely In the Southwest, water rights are a war zone; the film "Chinatown" (with Jack Nicholson), of course, showed that the fight could even be the background for fictional excitement. This work of legal and social history is hardly a whodunit, yet the real-life battle it surveys possesses a vivid life nevertheless, in the author's highly readable prose. Hall is a law professor, so it's not surprising that he's done plenty of homework, and has mastered the facts of the story he tells. But he also writes with a humorous touch--appropriately dry (what else?)--and knows how to keep th. Five Stars Never miss a book by Em Hall.
Hall gives a masterful summary of the legal and scientific parts of the story, but he excels in letting us feel and care about water in the same manner as do the people who use it to grow crops.. But beneath them all is the author, inviting readers to see how tiny gardens grown for the soul are as crucial to the overall story as the adjudication of water rights. There are irrigators here, including the leading 'old families' of south-eastern New Mexico, and there is nature here, including 'the vampires of the West', the rapacious salt cedars relentlessly sucking up the precious Pecos stream flow. Water law, water politics, and especially water shenanigans are at the centre of this book about New Mexico and Texas dividing the Pecos River. On another level, this story is as big and far-reaching as the high plains drained by the Pecos: it is part memoir, part biography, and part environmental history, part the history of hydrology, and part a contribution to the annals of litigation in the great tradition of Anthony Lewis and Jonathan Harr. While the book focuses on clashes of principles and personalities, especially in the courtroom, it remains very much a story about a river and its world in an arid regi
"High and Dry" would be a good place to start.""The story provides insights into how water policy evolves, who the players are that influence policy, and the role of the courts in adjudicating conflict. It's a remarkable achievement.""The author does an excellent job of showing the tenacity of New Mexicans who depend on an unreliable river to make their living and their fierce protection of their water rightsa well thought out, engaging, informed account about the history of water use in 20th century New Mexico." . It urges quietly: Water is precious here. And as Hall explains so well, it's a hell of a fight and it's not over yet.""Em Hall has given us literature, a story of relationships, intrigue and passion. New Mexico, and Em himself are at the same time characters and setting, context and plot. We have to care for it."an excellent primer on the history and scope of New Mexico water law "High and Dry" is an engrossing and illu
He combines his legal expertise with a passion for gardening. Emlen Hall is a writer and professor of law at the University of New Mexico. . G