Description: In the Maoist years the North China Plain was re-engineered to use every drop of water for irrigation and hydroelectricity. As David Pietz shows, China's urban growth, industrial expansion, and agricultural intensification rested on compromised water resources, with effects that cast a long shadow over China's future course as a global power.
Brief description: David A. Pietz is Professor of Chinese History and Director of the Global Studies Program at the University of Arizona, where he also holds the UNESCO Chair in Environmental History.
Review Quotes: Environmental historians commonly acknowledge the difficulty of establishing the global significance of local study, but Pietz's book is exemplary in this regard. He makes it clear that the yellow river posed a water problem of global proportions... This book significantly adds to the burgeoning field of global environmental history. Its scholarly yet also accessible style will appeal not only to specialists of the field but to a wider audience interested in China's environmental issues.--Yan Gao "Agricultural History" (1/1/2016 12:00:00 AM)