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Water and Human Societies

Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

  • Textbook
  • © 2021

Overview

Authors:
  1. David A. Pietz

    1. Department of History, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted

    1. Department of Political Science and International Affairs, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, USA

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Argues that contemporary water issues are best understood in a continuum of continuity and change.
  • Explores the subject of water through primary historical sources such as the Koran.
  • Introduces fundamental issues in environmental justice centered on access to ample and clean water supplies

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Water, Civilization, and Culture

    • David A. Pietz, Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted
    Pages 1-27

  3. Water and Landscapes

    • David A. Pietz, Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted
    Pages 29-54

  4. Water and Production

    • David A. Pietz, Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted
    Pages 55-79

  5. Water and Health

    • David A. Pietz, Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted
    Pages 81-101

  6. Water and Equity

    • David A. Pietz, Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted
    Pages 103-134

  7. Water and Governance

    • David A. Pietz, Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted
    Pages 135-163

  8. Water and Security

    • David A. Pietz, Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted
    Pages 165-194

  9. Water and Globalization

    • David A. Pietz, Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted
    Pages 195-227

  10. Water and Sustainability

    • David A. Pietz, Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted
    Pages 229-258
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Keywords

About this book

This book explores the historical relationships between human communities and water. Bringing together for the first time key texts from across the literature, it discusses how the past has shaped our contemporary challenges with equitable access to clean and ample water supplies. The book is organized into chapters that explore thematic issues in water history, including “Water and Civilizations,” Water and Health,” “Water and Equity” and “Water and Sustainability”. Each chapter is introduced by a critical overview of the theme, followed by four primary and secondary readings that discuss critical nodes in the historical and contemporary development of each chapter theme. “Further readings” at the end of each chapter invite the reader to further explore the dynamics of each theme.  The foundational premise of the book is that in order to comprehend the complexity of global water challenges, we need to understand the history of cultural forces that have shaped our water practices.  These historical patterns shape the range of choices available to us as we formulate responses to water challenges. 


The book will be a valuable resource to all students interested in understanding the challenges of water use today.


Reviews

"Written by two prominent water historians, this is a much-needed contribution to the growing field of global water history. By choosing to focus on equitable access, Pietz and Zeisler-Vralsted illuminate the significance and complexity of the human-water relationship. Their mastery of the field is illustrated in the insightful analytical chapters, selection of primary and secondary readings, and comprehensive bibliography. This promises to become a must-read text for students of environmental history, sustainability, policy, and development."

(Maurits Ertsen, Water Resources, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands)


“Given its importance, writings on water are abundant. Writings about those writings – to provide access to the many different texts with their multitudes of topics and perspectives on water – are more scarce, however. As such, this sourcebook offers a more then welcome overview of ideas on water. Any selection is limited by definition, but opening several texts within one publication to the reader creates a base and opportunities to that reader to search for more elsewhere. In other words, Pietz and Zeisler-Vralsted offer a selection of sources for the water scholar to shape her own river.”




(Heather Hoag, University of San Francisco, USA)





Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of History, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA

    David A. Pietz

  • Department of Political Science and International Affairs, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, USA

    Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted

About the authors

David A. Pietz is Professor of History and the UNESCO Chair of Environmental History at the University of Arizona, USA.  His publications include The Yellow River: The Problem of Water in Modern China, and Engineering the State: The Huai River and Reconstruction in Nationalist China, 1927-1937.


Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted is Professor Emeritus at Eastern Washington University, USA. Her publications include Rivers, Memory and Nation- Building: A History of the Volga and Mississippi Rivers.

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