Giulio Boccaletti

This is an interesting look at world history through the lens of water. Boccaletti argues that water is essential to political systems and the organization of human culture: it is a shared resource that is impossible for individuals to control, so any manipulation of water (for irrigation, large-scale transport, providing clean water to cities, etc.) requires some sort of centralized organization or government. How governments manage water has a big impact on the entire structure of government: who pays it? who does the labor? who benefits?

This book falls into the trap that catches most world history books: it's impossible to do justice to the entire history of the world in a few hundred pages. It starts out very broadly, but soon focuses on Western Europe and the United States. There is too much information for a reader to really synthesize all of it, although Boccaletti does a good job of keeping his main argument at the forefront.… (más)

The author's goal for this book was admirably ambitious. He wanted to tell the history of mankind and how it has been influenced by its relationship with water. In particular, he wanted to explain how efforts to manage water resources influenced political structures and philosophies.
Unfortunately, the writing style and the book's structure make reading it a disappointment. Specifically, in order to put the relationship of water in context for a specific society and era, the author sketches the history of the period. These sketches are so sketchy that I often found myself confused even for time periods I was familiar with. A second problem in reading the book is how the book leaps from country to country within a chapter. Just as you are understanding what happened in one place, the book switches to another place all together. Finally, the cases covered are presented so short that you are regularly left wanting to know much more than what was presented. Despite these defects, the book was worth reading since it made me aware of so many cases I had not previously known about.… (más)