Gila: The Life and Death of an American River, Updated and Expanded Edition

Gila: The Life and Death of an American River, Updated and Expanded Edition

For sixty million years, the Gila River, longer than the Hudson and the Delaware combined, has shaped the ecology of the Southwest from its source in New Mexico to its confluence with the Colorado River in Arizona. Today, for at least half its length, the Gila is dead, like so many of the West's great rivers, owing to overgrazing, damming, and other practices. This richly documented cautionary tale narrates the Gila's natural and human history. Now updated, McNamee's study traces recent efforts to resuscitate portions of this important riparian corridor. This beautifully researched and written tome tackles the once mighty Gila River, its origin and its death, and contextualizes with aplomb what killed it and who suffered and what's next. --40 Essential Arizona Books, Tucson Weekly This richly documented cautionary tale narrates the Gila River's natural and human history. Now updated, McNamee's study traces recent efforts to resuscitate portions of this important riparian corridor. Gregory McNamee is the author or editor of more than forty books, among them Gila: The Life and Death of an American River, Updated and Expanded Edition (UNM Press). He lives in Tucson, Arizona.