Western Times and Water Wars State, Culture, and Rebellion in California [Paperback]

Western Times and Water Warschronicles more than a hundred years of tumultuous events in the history of California's Owens Valley. From the pioneer conquest of the native inhabitants to the infamous destruction of the valley's agrarian economy by water-hungry Los Angeles, this legendary setting is a microcosm of the development of the American West.

John Waltonis Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of California, Davis.

Walton first uses his magnifying glass to capture images of struggle in a California valley during a century and a half of transformation, then inverts it to scrutinize the American state, popular politics, and collective action in general. The maneuver is bold, the outcome stimulating. Charles Tilly, New School for Social Research

A passionate and first rate historical adventure. The plot is as intricate, fascinating, and full of intrigue and detail as a Dickens or a Tolstoy novel. John Nichols, author ofThe Milagro Beanfield War

Preface

1. Introduction
2. Conquest and Incorporation
3. Pioneer Economy and Social Structure
4. Frontier Civil Society
5. Rebellion
6. The Local World Transformed
7. The Environmental Movement
8. State, Culture, and Collective Action