By Stephen Grace
 
In the scramble to claim water rights during the settlement of the West, dam building fever transformed the landscape and created a map of the region that may be unsustainable. Throughout the arid American West, metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Denver need water. These cities are growing, but water supplies are dwindling. Scientists agree that the West is heating up and drying out, leading to future water shortages that will pose a challenge to existing laws.
 
Dam Nation weaves together the stories of the earliest attempts by people to shape the landscape and tame it, and then takes on the ongoing legal and moral battles surrounding this critical national issue.
 
Stephen Grace is a novelist and the author of several nonfiction books. A resident of Colorado, he spends his free time exploring the mountains and rivers of the West.
 
(333 pages)