Preface

1. Organization for Development
2. Competing Public Interests
3. The Politics of Appropriation
4. Forging the Link
5. Years of Excess
6. The Politics of Exploitation
7. Legacy
8. The Ties That Bind

Conclusion
Maps
Notes
Bibliography
Index

“A crackling piece of history, politics, and economics, full of information, controversy and drama . . . loaded with enough detail, characters, incidents, and richness to make plenty of fiction look pale.”—Newsday

"'Water and Power' is not only the most detailed book on the subject but the first one to attempt to be balanced and fair, and, more important, to succeed. . . . A class on how to write history clearly, convincingly, with an eye on the bigger picture, and, most of all, with deep common sense."—New York Times Book Review

"Kahrl has done more that simply illuminate an issue of riveting public importance in California; he has set an example for journalists, commentators, and power brokers in California to follow."—Los Angeles Daily Journal

"Ambitious, comprehensive, and grounded in those long-neglected sources historians could have used all along. . . . The Owens Valley-Los Angeles water controversy will never be the same again."—American Historical Review

"Punctures the morality plays without diminishing the evil history of the Owens Valley...A complex and often tedious subject that Kahrl illuminates with meticulous detachment, bringing the drama into clear and undistorted focus."—New York Review of Books

"Here, in engaging amplitude and in comprehensive and rich detail, is the most inclusive, impartial account yet published...crammed with the clash of character and personality...In the story of the aqueduct...we confront the rise of the dual view that millions of people have of Los Angeles—as marvel, as menace."—Los Angeles Times

"As evenhanded and dispassionate a retelling as can be imagined...Kahrl has not only written a book of considerable value in the ongoing debate over public policy and private rights, but also produced something approaching a thriller."—Boston Globe

"[Kahrl] has turned his formidable powers of research and highly readable writing into a definitive account...For Californians who wonder where their next drink of water is coming from, the book should be required reading."—Los Angeles Herald-Examiner