Brimming with ideas and unexpected correlations, Water is far more than a biography of its nominal subject. Given society’s ancient, tangled relationship with water, the book stands as a compelling history of civilization itself, from its earliest days to the present, with implications for the future, as it offers a disturbing glimpse of a time when our association with water is poised to enter a particularly perilous phase.

[Boccaletti] identifies river systems that defined and sustained early civilizations (the Tigris and Euphrates, the Nile, the Amazon, the Yangtze) and convincingly argues that ancient and contemporary political and economic systems were developed, in part, to address the ownership and control of water and govern the fair and effective use of water as a public good.

... expert.

... informative if dry.

As with all other life forms, humanity is inextricably linked to water. With a favorable balance, we progress; absent that balance, we struggle. We understand this truth on a fundamental level, but Boccaletti’s wonderfully detailed account of humankind’s relationship with water truly brings this fact to life. A trained atmospheric scientist and an honorary research associate at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford, Boccaletti is eminently qualified to lead readers through the fascinating details of the stories of civilizations and the water systems that sustained or failed them.