Saving lost lives : irrigation and the ideology of homemaking -- The perils of public works : Federal reclamation, 1902-1909 -- Case studies in irrigation and community : Twin Falls and Rupert -- An administrative morass : Federal reclamation, 1909-1917 -- Boom, bust and boom : Federal reclamation, 1917-1935 -- Uneasy allies : the Reclamation Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs -- Case studies in water and power : the Yakima and the Pima -- Wiring the new West : the strange career of public power -- Gateway to the hydraulic age : water politics, 1920-1935 -- Conclusion : retrospect and significance
Summary
Donald Pisani's history of perhaps the boldest economic and social program ever undertaken in the United States, shows in fascinating detail how ambitious government programs fall prey to the power of local interest groups and the federal system of governance itself
