The Rhine: An Eco-Biography, 1815-2000

Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books

by Mark Cioc

The Rhine River is Europeís most important commercial waterway, channeling the flow of trade among Switzerland, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. In this innovative study, Mark Cioc focuses on the river from the moment when the Congress of Vienna established a multinational commission charged with making the river more efficient for purposes of trade and commerce in 1815. He examines the engineering and administrative decisions of the next century and a half that resulted in rapid industrial growth as well as profound environmental degradation, and highlights the partially successful restoration efforts undertaken from the 1970s to the present. The Rhine is a classic example of a 'multipurpose' river -- used simultaneously for transportation, for industry and agriculture, for urban drinking and sanitation needs, for hydroelectric production, and for recreation. It thus invites comparison with similarly over-burdened rivers such as the Mississippi, Hudson, Colorado, and Columbia. The Rhineís environmental problems are, however, even greater than those of other rivers because it is so densely populated (50 million people live along its borders), so highly industrialized (10% of global chemical production), and so short (775 miles in length). Two centuries of nonstop hydraulic tinkering have resulted in a Rhine with a sleek and slender profile. In their quest for a perfect canal-like river, engineers have modified it more than any other large river in the world. As a consequence, between 1815 and 1975, the river lost most of its natural floodplain, riverside vegetation, migratory fish, and biodiversity. Recent efforts to restore that biodiversity, though heartening, can have only limited success because so many of the structural changes to the river are irreversible. The An Eco-Biography, 1815-2000 makes clear just how central the river has been to all aspects of European political, economic, and environmental life for the past two hundred years. "The An Eco-Biography is the first true environmental history of a major European river. The story Mark Cioc tells in these pages is both fascinating and cautionary. What happened to the Rhine during the 19th and 20th centuries was unquestionably one of the success stories of modern history, a triumphant example of the human benefits that can flow from harnessing natureís power to benefit humanity. But an immense price was paid for those benefits, so much so that by the closing decades of the 20th century, enormous efforts were being expended to recover some of the creatures, ecosystems, and natural processes that had once been sacrificed to the dream of progress." -- from the Foreword by William Cronon

Genres: History, Travel, Environment, Nonfiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Gianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't the worst. However, it read so slowly and went off on a lot of tangents.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

As its title indicates, this is a look at the history of development along, and changes to, the Rhine River, covering the years 1815-2000. The Rhine, which starts in the Swiss Alps and runs along or through France and Germany on its way to its mouth in the Netherlands, is possibly the most industrialized major river in the world, and this book outlines all of the changes—from early attempts to tame and straighten it, through the growth of polluting industries along its banks, to more recent efforts to clean up the river and restore some of the floodplain and wildlife habitat that were all but decimated over the years. Many other rivers, like the Mississippi and Ohio in the United States, have undergone similar cycles, although not to the extent of the Rhine.
I’ll be visiting the Rhine in a few weeks, so this book was of special interest to me.
The reading was a little thick, with a lot of place names and river names, but the overall story was fascinating and universal.

[Jindřich Zapletal · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book gives you a systematic overview of industrial transformation of the Rhine River from the Tulla flood control project to modern revitalization efforts. It covers many canalization and dredging projects, early 19th century environmental litigation, main products and by-products of chemical plants as the industry developed, hydropower plants, and a lot of other stuff.

I give the book five stars for the systematic treatment, for which I do not see any competitor in English. The reader should keep in mind that some of the projects described came close to statehood formation projects, so they go beyond just ecological or industrial dimension, and they cannot be fully analyzed in a book of this type.

[Satya Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a compendium of knowledge. It is very informative, and considering the fact it is one of the pioneers of European environmental history, it does a good job portraying the shortfalls of rapid industrialization in the Ruhr region. Despite all of this, it is severely lacking in key details that go beyond geopolitics and ecology, yet is somehow very redundant and analytical to the detriment of the reader.
It falls short when referencing diseases and fishermen who are affected--more so, people who are affected by the issues of the Rhine.

I would like to see scholarship work off of this and add further material.

[Christopher Sumpter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super tedious. This was some heavy wading.

[Edith · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars: I expect an ecological scientist would rate this higher. Somewhat tough sledding for the lay reader. Thorough account of the sad ecological life of the Rhine in modern times, and a study of both the development of modern engineering and the growing interest in returning the despoiled river to something of its former grandeur.