Waterscapes: History, Cultures, and Controversies

Series Editor: William Rowley (emeritus, University of Nevada, Reno), and Paul Lindholdt (Eastern Washington University) At the most fundamental level, water has always been essential to life. Yet it’s becoming an increasingly contentious resource—from how to allocate the Colorado River in the American West to drought and coastal flooding the world over. In some places there’s too little, in others too much, and future projections are uncertain at best, dire at worst. With its geopolitical implications, water is the oil of the 21st century. Climate change is a related challenge that affects the entire world, indiscriminately and with devastating and wide-ranging results. Pollution and water quality continue to be problems not just in the developing world but domestically, as Flint, Michigan, reminds us. Water has also played a cultural role in the human imagination throughout history. Most ancient traditions mention a great flood. And what would Thoreau be without his pond? Waterscapes is an interdisciplinary series in which we recognize the centrality of water in the past, present, and future. We recognize water in a very tangible and practical sense, as well as a spiritual and reflective sense. We welcome approaches from the social sciences and humanities, including ecology, ecocriticism, nature writing, travel, history, political science and public policy, literary and cultural studies, and international relations. Single-site, comparative, and works of global scope will be included, as will a variety of methodologies.