Water Resource Mismanagement

A great piece giving a startling portrait of the mismanagement of natural resources and the role that the great civil works projects of the mid 20th century is Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner.


From Wikipedia: "The book's main conclusion is that development-driven policies, formed when settling the West was the country's main concern, are having serious long-term negative effects on the environment and water quantity."

AND it includes a huge indictment of dams and those other huge civil works projects and their return on investment.