Water

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Spanning millennia and continents, this revealing history tackles the crucial narrative of our relationship with water amid looming scarcity. More than a biography of its subject, it serves as a compelling history of civilization itself. Giulio Boccaletti, an honorary research associate at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford, expertly weaves together environmental and social history, starting with early sedentary farmers along the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates Rivers. He illustrates how sea-level changes from the last glacial melt enabled these societies, leading to irrigation and multiple cropping, which fueled population growth and labor specialization. The text clarifies how irrigation shaped social structures, such as how agricultural needs prompted inventions like the calendar, and how communal ownership of wells in ancient Greece laid the groundwork for democracy. It also explores how experiences with water security in Greece and Rome led to taxation systems and how modernity emerged with a legal framework for water infrastructure development. Extraordinary in its scope and insight, this work enriches our understanding of our fundamental reliance on this essential substance.