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What Is Water?: The History of a Modern Abstraction
Every water issue is a social issue. And yet, in contrast to almost every other culture, we define water in the modern West as a substance entirely devoid of social content. How is it that we have come to think of water in this way, as an abstract compound of hydrogen and oxygen, and what are the consequences?
These questions underlie Jamie Linton’s What is Water, a history of the particular way of conceptualizing water that predominated in the twentieth century. In this wide-ranging study, Linton shows how scientific practice, the modern state, technology, and politics produced an idea of water that helped permit its manipulation and control on a vast scale, with corresponding effects on human society. That much of the world is engulfed today in what many describe as a "water crisis" suggests the need to rethink the nature of water. By reinvesting water with social content -- by considering water’s social nature -- Linton suggests a fresh approach to a fundamental problem.
These questions underlie Jamie Linton’s What is Water, a history of the particular way of conceptualizing water that predominated in the twentieth century. In this wide-ranging study, Linton shows how scientific practice, the modern state, technology, and politics produced an idea of water that helped permit its manipulation and control on a vast scale, with corresponding effects on human society. That much of the world is engulfed today in what many describe as a "water crisis" suggests the need to rethink the nature of water. By reinvesting water with social content -- by considering water’s social nature -- Linton suggests a fresh approach to a fundamental problem.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
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