9780316412001-0316412007-Rivers of Power: How a Natural Force Raised Kingdoms, Destroyed Civilizations, and Shapes Our World

Rivers of Power: How a Natural Force Raised Kingdoms, Destroyed Civilizations, and Shapes Our World

ISBN-13: 9780316412001
ISBN-10: 0316412007
Edition: Illustrated
Author: Laurence C. Smith PhD
Publication date: 2020
Publisher: Little, Brown Spark
Format: Hardcover 368 pages
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Book details

ISBN-13: 9780316412001
ISBN-10: 0316412007
Edition: Illustrated
Author: Laurence C. Smith PhD
Publication date: 2020
Publisher: Little, Brown Spark
Format: Hardcover 368 pages

Summary

Rivers of Power: How a Natural Force Raised Kingdoms, Destroyed Civilizations, and Shapes Our World (ISBN-13: 9780316412001 and ISBN-10: 0316412007), written by authors Laurence C. Smith PhD, was published by Little, Brown Spark in 2020. With an overall rating of 3.7 stars, it's a notable title among other Environmental Economics (Economics) books. You can easily purchase or rent Rivers of Power: How a Natural Force Raised Kingdoms, Destroyed Civilizations, and Shapes Our World (Hardcover) from BooksRun, along with many other new and used Environmental Economics books and textbooks. And, if you're looking to sell your copy, our current buyback offer is $0.45.

Description

An "eye-opening, sometimes alarming, and ultimately inspiring" natural history of rivers and their complex and ancient relationship with human civilization (Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction).

Rivers, more than any road, technology, or political leader, have shaped the course of human civilization. They have opened frontiers, founded cities, settled borders, and fed billions. They promote life, forge peace, grant power, and can capriciously destroy everything in their path. Even today, rivers remain a powerful global force -- one that is more critical than ever to our future.

In Rivers of Power, geographer Laurence C. Smith explores the timeless yet underappreciated relationship between rivers and civilization as we know it. Rivers are of course important in many practical ways (water supply, transportation, sanitation, etc). But the full breadth of their influence on the way we live is less obvious. Rivers define and transcend international borders, forcing cooperation between nations. Huge volumes of river water are used to produce energy, raw commodities, and food. Wars, politics, and demography are transformed by their devastating floods. The territorial claims of nations, their cultural and economic ties to each other, and the migrations and histories of their peoples trace back to rivers, river valleys, and the topographic divides they carve upon the world. And as climate change, technology, and cities transform our relationship with nature, new opportunities are arising to protect the waters that sustain us.

Beautifully told and expansive in scope, Rivers of Power reveals how and why rivers have so profoundly influenced our civilization and examines the importance this vast, arterial power holds for the future of humanity.

"
As fascinating as it is beautifully written."---Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse, and Upheaval

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