MARC Record from marc_nuls

LEADER: 03675cam 2200421 i 4500
001 9925256499801661
005 20160412050638.0
008 150116s2015 ilua b 001 0 eng c
010 $a 2015002173
020 $a9780226284316 (cloth : alk. paper)
020 $a022628431X (cloth : alk. paper)
020 $z9780226284453 (e-book)
035 $a99970372805
035 $a(OCoLC)900609687
035 $a(OCoLC)ocn900609687
040 $aICU/DLC$beng$erda$cCGU$dDLC$dBDX$dYDXCP$dBTCTA$dCDX$dIPL$dGWL$dGYG
042 $apcc
043 $an-us---
050 00 $aTC556$b.S63 2015
082 00 $a333.9100973$223
100 1 $aSneddon, Christopher,$eauthor.
245 10 $aConcrete revolution :$blarge dams, Cold War geopolitics, and the US Bureau of Reclamation /$cChristopher Sneddon.
264 1 $aChicago :$bThe University of Chicago Press,$c2015.
300 $axii, 270 pages :$billustrations ;$c24 cm
336 $atext$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$2rdacarrier
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 243-259) and index.
505 0 $aLarge dams, technopolitics, and development -- Building a "world-wide fraternity" : the Bureau, China, and John Savage -- "A reclamation program to lead them" : the Bureau goes global -- Ethiopia, the Bureau, and investigations of the blue Nile -- Cold War geopolitics, technical expertise, and the Mekong project -- Large dams and the contemporary geopolitics of development -- Conclusion : large dams and other things.
520 $aWater may seem innocuous, but as a universal necessity, it inevitably intersects with politics when it comes to acquisition, control, and associated technologies. While we know a great deal about the socioecological costs and benefits of modern dams, we know far less about their political origins and ramifications. In Concrete Revolution, Christopher Sneddon offers a corrective: a compelling historical account of the US Bureau of Reclamation's contributions to dam technology, Cold War politics, and the social and environmental adversity perpetuated by the US government in its pursuit of economic growth and geopolitical power. Founded in 1902, the Bureau became enmeshed in the US State Department's push for geopolitical power following World War II, a response to the Soviet Union's increasing global sway. By offering technical and water resource management advice to the world's underdeveloped regions, the Bureau found that it could not only provide them with economic assistance and the United States with investment opportunities, but also forge alliances and shore up a country's global standing in the face of burgeoning communist influence. Drawing on a number of international case studies - from the Bureau's early forays into overseas development and the launch of its Foreign Activities Office in 1950 to the Blue Nile investigation in Ethiopia - Concrete Revolution offers insights into this historic damming boom, with vital implications for the present. If, Sneddon argues, we can understand dams as both technical and political objects rather than instruments of impartial science, we can better participate in current debates about large dams and river basin planning. -- from dust jacket.
610 10 $aUnited States.$bBureau of Reclamation.
650 0 $aDams$xHistory$y20th century.
650 0 $aWater resources development$zUnited States.
650 0 $aWater resources development$xPolitical aspects.
650 0 $aTechnical assistance, American$xPolitical aspects$zDeveloping countries.
650 0 $aGeopolitics$zUnited States.
947 $hCIRCSTACKS$r31786103059371
980 $a99970372805