Political and Environmental Sociology: The Dialectic of Society and Nature

Although the dams of the American West loom large over society, much of their political character is hidden from view. Snippets of politics come back into the media now and again; talk about breaching the dams rises and falls with the issue-attention cycles of the American public (Downs 1998). The history of the dams, however, almost always remains buried underneath the present discussions about endangered species or flood control or urban water needs.