"This book is about crime and passion, life and death, lofty goals and squalid realities. It is a book about water. Global disparities in health and access to water are two major threats to world stability. As international contracts and corporate agreements divert water from small communities to provide for larger cities, from households to supply agribusiness, conflicts sharpen among local communities, national governments, and international agencies such as the World Bank and the International Development Bank over the basic resources to support human life. In this book, leading anthropologists illuminate the global political inequities and resource management techniques that cause children to die and adults to sicken. Drawing on expertise in medical and ecological anthropology, the contributors challenge and deepen our understanding of the management, sale, and conceptualization of water as it affects human health.

Designed for use by policymakers as well as researchers and students, the essays present complex realities in clear, accessible terms."--Jacket.