Mississippi River tragedies : a century of unnatural disaster / Christine A. Klein and Sandra B. Zellmer.

Mississippi River tragedies : a century of unnatural disaster / Christine A. Klein and Sandra B. Zellmer.

New York : New York University Press, 2016.

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white)

American engineers have done astounding things to bend the Mississippi River to their will: forcing one of its tributaries to flow uphill, transforming over a thousand miles of roiling currents into a placid staircase of water, and wresting the lower half of the river apart from its floodplain. American law has aided and abetted these feats. But so-called 'natural disasters' continue to strike the Mississippi basin. In some places, only the tombstones remain, leaning at odd angles as the underlying soil erodes away. This book reveals that it is seductively deceptive - but horribly misleading - to call such catastrophes 'natural.' Klein and Zellmer present a sympathetic account of the human dreams, pride, and foibles that got us to this point, weaving together engaging historical narratives and accessible law stories drawn from actual courtroom dramas.

American engineers have done astounding things to bend the Mississippi River to their will: forcing one of its tributaries to flow uphill, transforming over a thousand miles of roiling currents into a placid staircase of water, and wresting the lower half of the river apart from its floodplain. American law has aided and abetted these feats. But so-called 'natural disasters' continue to strike the Mississippi basin. In some places, only the tombstones remain, leaning at odd angles as the underlying soil erodes away. This book reveals that it is seductively deceptive - but horribly misleading - to call such catastrophes 'natural.' Klein and Zellmer present a sympathetic account of the human dreams, pride, and foibles that got us to this point, weaving together engaging historical narratives and accessible law stories drawn from actual courtroom dramas.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on February 1, 2016).

WWW

Print version :

University Press Scholarship Online.
Oxford Academic.

English

9781479807475 ebook

Monographs & Serials
Electronic Resources