The Source: How Rivers Made America and America Remade Its Rivers

A great book, wide-ranging and informative. But! time after time, a chapter ends with the realization that people have destroyed their own environment again. Sometimes through the Law of Unintended Consequences; sometimes through greed and selfishness; sometimes through short-sightedness. I had to stop reading several chapters if I wanted to sleep that night.Highly recommended., especially for people who aren't as sensitive and wimpy as I am.

Rivers are what made the United States what it is and this book explores how rivers and streams have shaped our history and made the expansion of the country possible.The author starts by examining the eastern river systems. Most didn't go very far inland, and while great for use as power for grist mills, they were not good for transportation. Then the idea of the Erie Canal came to be and it changed the depth of the country and how good were transported to market.The author then looks at what we have done to harness rivers for navigation and to prevent flooding. Levees were built, rivers were straightened and depth increased to allow more river traffic. The best example is, of course the Mississippi River, which has become a backbone of American transportation.The author also examines the environmental damage done to our rivers and how we continually made things worse with our rivers until the environmental movement of the seventies. That is when we started to reverse course and started to fix much of the damage done to our river systems.The book is a fascinating read into an aspect of American history that has received little attention. We would not be the country we are without our river systems, and this book details that well. It is very readable and completely enjoyable.

This author covered every topic from irrigation to transportation and generation !From the famous Erie Canal and its defendants to Hoover Damand electric power to plane old fishing you get it all with this study. I found I most informative !

This book was a fun read as it talked about how rivers shaped the economy of the US early on, but it also provided some background as to how different government institutions were created and shaped by the rivers or by diverting rivers. There were a lot of tidbits that were surprising and fascinating about how different systems are set up to utilize rivers for commerce, energy and entertainment and how different projects were constructed or funded. Highly recommend for people who are curious about rivers or about the formation of different government entities!

Given the book's title I was expecting more technical information; i.e. how were America's rivers developed/modified for our usage? Rather this is more of the philosophy of how we use our rivers and (especially for western rivers whose flows are rationed out) who has priority of water usage. Still it's well written, researched and interesting. For instance you have multiple entities wanting to use water from the river for irrigation: 1)the furthest upstream tenant, 2)the downstream tenant who has longer occupancy or seniority, and 3)Native Americans. During times of drought and the river can't supply all their needs, who gets theirs first? Certainly a worthwhile read for those interested in America's rivers.

The Source is fabulous! It’s dense, authoritative, well-researched & well-referenced.For me, it was a slow read - because it is filled with thought-provoking information & insights.Rivers have shaped the basic facts of America - where we live, how we conduct business, how we deal with risks, and how we govern ourselves.By this great work, Martin Doyle (author) provides a thorough history of the central role Rivers have played in our local/national development. He informs us how vital (despite being taken for granted & oft-abused) Rivers are to our future.For anyone wishing to better understand issues of American Environment, Government, and History - this seems a “must read”.Fabulous job, Mister Doyle!!

From the Erie Canal to credit default swaps all while focusing on America's rivers, is an indication of the sweep of this book. It is a fascinating and interesting narrative covering history, politics, economics as well as geography, science, and natural history. It is well written and researched. No one point of view, or political position is championed over another. Instead, each is carefully presented in a way to provide the information for the reader to make their own decision.

After a while there was just too much information to absorb. I love the rivers and have boated on many. The flood control on the Mississippi got to me a bit much. The highlight was the author’s trip on a barge. That is the book I wanted to read. It was well researched but a little too dry for my tastes.