Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Southern Water, Southern Power
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Atlanga
STATE: GA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-manganiello-35a46812 * https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469620053/southern-water-southern-power/ * https://www.uncpress.org/author/christopher-j-manganiello/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2008058441
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2008058441
HEADING: Manganiello, Christopher J., 1973-
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008 080825n| acannaabn |n aaa
010 __ |a n 2008058441
040 __ |a DLC |b eng |c DLC
100 1_ |a Manganiello, Christopher J., |d 1973-
670 __ |a Environmental history and the American South, c2009: |b ECIP t.p. (Christopher J. Manganiello) data view (b. 1973; doctoral candidate in history, Univ. of Georgia)
953 __ |a lk29
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:Eckerd College, B.A. (with honors), M.A. (with honors); University of Georgia, Ph.D. (with honors), 2010.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Historian, educator, policy director, and writer. Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC, teaching assistant in history, project coordinator for Blue Ridge Parkway Public History Project, 2001-02; University of Georgia, Athens, served as a teaching assistant, became archival processing assistant for Eugene P. Odum Papers, Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library, 2009, instructor in history, 2010-11; Georgia Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, GA, instructor in history, 2011; Georgia River Network, Athens, policy director, 2012-16; Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Atlanta, GA, water policy director, 2016–. Work-related activities include serving as a research assistant for a planned documentary film on Cold Mountain, 2002.
MEMBER:American Society for Environmental History, Southern Historical Association.
AWARDS:Rachel Carson Prize for best dissertation in environmental history, American Society for Environmental History, 2010, for “Dam Crazy with Wild Consequences: Artificial Lakes and Natural Rivers in the American South, 1845-1990.” Recipient of fellowships, including Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellowship, 2008-09.
WRITINGS
Contributor to The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Contributor to periodicals and professional journals, including Flagpole, Journal of the History of Biology, Journal of Southern History, Southern Cultures, and Georgia Wildlife Foundation Magazine. Editor of Georgia Water Wire blog.
SIDELIGHTS
Christopher J. Manganiello was a history major who won the Rachel Carson Prize for best dissertation in environmental history. His research areas are the U.S. South, environment and agriculture, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century U.S. history. In his book Southern Water, Southern Power: How the Politics of Cheap Energy and Water Scarcity Shaped a Region, Manganiello examines the contested history of water in the American South, with a focus on intrastate and interstate wars over water and the role of environmental manipulation and politics. Despite the abundant rainfall in the South, the Southern states have faced many issues concerning water and water rights. According to Manganiello, a major issue was a tradeoff in which the South could have cheap energy but would ultimately face ongoing water insecurity.
Writing in the introduction to Southern Water, Southern Power, Manganiello notes the exteremely high levels of anxiety reached in Georgia during a power struggle over water resulting from a drought that lasted three years and then the abundance of rain that followed in 2009, marking the end of the drought. Noting that the drought was coupled with restrictive water-usage laws pitting different areas against each other, Manganiello writes: “This high level of anxiety in a water-rich region was perplexing to me.” Manganiello goes on to note: “Early on I discovered that all of the Southeast’s major lakes not only are artificial, but many are privately managed. This basic fact sets the Southeast’s history of water and power–of water supply, users, and rights–apart from other regions of the United States.”
Although Manganiello primarily focuses on the South where political power was used to control the conversations about water supplies and river manipulations, Manganiello writes in his introduction that the story is also about broader issues concerning “American individualism, equity, and the contest to define what constitutes the proper use of common natural resources.” Manganiello uses the manipulation of the Savannah River, which is located along the border between Georgia and South Carolina, as the primary example of politics and water usage and rights issues in the South. He also shows how the Southeast region’s landscapes have been greatly shaped by water conflicts.
Manganiello discusses water issues and political power in three eras, beginning with the New South of 1890 to 1930. At the end of this period, during the Great Depression, large dams were constructed in order to provide cheap power. The second era occurred when, instead of coporate construction of dams, the federal government planned and built big, multipurpose dams as a solution to water control. He ends by examining the Sun Belt era, following World War II and on through the early twenty-first century. Following the war, the leading water and power broker became the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which soon faced resistance to its control of water. As for dams, Manganiello focuses on the dam-building frenzy that occurred in the region and the debates about public or private control of dam construction and management.
Ultimately, Manganiello shows how politics played a primary role in the determination of what dams were built where and who would build them. In order to explain the many institutional and individual conflicts that arose over water in the South, Manganiello presents numerous case studies focusing on issues such as energy, development, government control, and water access. In the process, he clarifies the debates involving the New Deal and its impact and approach to conservation and economic diversification and development. He also discusses the labor and race conflicts that helped shape the region.
“Manganiello’s book will draw much-needed attention to the history of the southern environment, particularly to the way that southerners have sought to control that environment in the face of uncertainty and insecurity,” wrote Matthew L. Downs in the Journal of Southern History. Writing for the On the Brink Web site, Bob Brinkmann remarked: “Southern Water, Southern Power is a book that anyone who works in the field of water resources should read.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Choice, September, 2015, T.S. Reynolds, review of Southern Water, Southern Power: How the Politics of Cheap Energy and Water Scarcity Shaped a Region, p. 91.
Journal of Southern History, August, 2016, Matthew L. Downs, review of Southern Water, Southern Power, p. 721.
ONLINE
Christopher J. Manganiello Home Page, https://manganiello.wordpress.com (March 21, 2017).
On the Brink, http://bobbrinkmann.blogspot.com/ (April 4, 2016), Bob Brinkmann, review of Southern Water, Southern Power.
University of Georgia Web site, http://history.uga.edu/ (March 21, 2017), author profile.
About the Author
Dr. Christopher J. Manganiello has served as the Water Policy Director at Chattahoochee Riverkeeper since October 2016. His book, titled Southern Water, Southern Power: How the Politics of Cheap Energy and Water Scarcity Shaped a Region, was published by the University of North Carolina Press (2015).
Prior to joining Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Chris was the Georgia River Network Policy Director for almost five years. Before that he was a Smithsonian Institution Fellow, and a University of Georgia and Georgia Gwinnett College faculty member. Chris has published in the Journal of the History of Biology, the Journal of Southern History, and Southern Cultures, and was co-editor, with Paul S. Sutter, of Environmental History and the American South: A Reader (University of Georgia Press, 2009).
Curriculum Vita:
Current Employment
Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Atlanta, Georgia.
Water Policy Director, October 2016-present
Duties: policy analysis; public & government affairs.
Education
University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
Ph.D. with Honors in United States History, May 2010
Dissertation: “Dam Crazy with Wild Consequences: Artificial Lakes and Natural Rivers in the American South, 1845-1990,” awarded the Rachel Carson Prize by the American Society for Environmental History for Best Dissertation in Environmental History in 2010
Major Advisor: Paul Sutter. Committee: James Cobb, Shane Hamilton, Bethany Moreton
Exam Fields: Environmental, United States, and World History
Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina
M.A. with Honors in American History
Thesis: “From a Howling Wilderness to a Howling Tour: Revisiting the Wolf in North Carolina, 1585-2000”
Advisor: Scott Philyaw. Committee: Daniel S. Pierce, Vicki Szabo
Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida
B.A. with Honors in History and a minor in Political Science
Major Publications
Books
Southern Water, Southern Power: How the Politics of Cheap Energy and Water Scarcity Shaped a Region (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015).
Nominated for the 2016 Reed Environmental Writing Award, awarded by the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Award for Excellence in Research Using the Holdings of an Archives, Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council, October 2015.
Reviewed in American Association of Geographers Review of Books, Agricultural History, American Historical Review, H-Environment Roundtable, Journal of Southern History, North Carolina Historical Review, On the Brink, and Southern Spaces.
Environmental History and the American South: A Reader, Edited by Paul S. Sutter and Christopher J. Manganiello (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2009).
Chapters & Articles
“The Gold Standard: Sunbelt Environmentalism and Coastal Protection,” commissioned to contribute original research to conference (February 2016) and edited collection: Coastal Nature, Coastal Culture: Environmental Histories of the Georgia Coast (forthcoming, University of Georgia Press, 2017).
“Fish Tales and the Conservation State,” for special “Southern Waters” edition of Southern Cultures 20, no. 3 (August 2014): 43-62.
“Hitching the New South to White Coal: Water and Power, 1890-1933,” Journal of Southern History 78, no. 2 (May 2012): 255-292.
“From a Howling Wilderness to Howling Safaris: Science, Policy and Red Wolves in the American South,” Journal of the History of Biology 42, no. 2 (May 2009): 325-397.
Media & Popular Publications
Editor, “Georgia Water Wire” blog, a source for analysis and interpretation of water related policy and news.
Media source and quoted in numerous print stories by Associated Press, Athens Banner Herald, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Augusta Chronicle, Circle of Blue, Flagpole Magazine, Florida Environments, Georgia Public Broadcasting Radio, Macon Telegraph, Morris News Service, Rome News-Tribune, Savannah Morning News.
“The Flint River: A Sun Belt River and the Burden of History,” Flint River Special Edition, Georgia Wildlife Foundation Magazine, November 2013.
Cover and feature essay, “Georgia’s Urban Drought History. Who Knew?” Flagpole Magazine, May 6, 2009.
“Chattooga River” (2006), The New Georgia Encyclopedia entry. Ed. John Inscoe et al.
Awards and Honors
Rachel Carson Prize, American Society for Environmental History, Best Dissertation in Environmental History (in 2010), awarded April, 2011.
C. Vann Woodward Dissertation Prize finalist for the best dissertation in southern history completed and defended in 2010, Southern Historical Association, 2011.
Graduate Student Excellence-in-Research Award, University of Georgia, 2011. One of four awarded University-wide.
Dissertation Completion Fellowship, University of Georgia Graduate School, 2009-2010. One of twenty awarded University-wide.
Smithsonian Institution Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, National Museum of American History, 2008-2009. Advisors: Jeffrey K. Stine and Pete Daniel.
Graduate Student Research and Performance Grant, Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, University of Georgia, 2007-2008. One of ten awarded University-wide.
Carl Vipperman Teaching Assistant Scholarship, Department of History, University of Georgia, Spring 2008.
Thomas Pleasant Vincent, Sr. Scholarship Award for research in Georgia History, Department of History, University of Georgia, Spring 2007.
University of Georgia Department of History Travel Awards, Spring 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011.
Thomas Pleasant Vincent, Jr. Fellowship, Department of History, University of Georgia, 2004-2006.
Sole nomination to Conference of Southern Graduate Schools 2004 Master’s Thesis Award by the Western Carolina University Graduate School, August 2003.
Comprehensive Examination in American History, High Pass Distinction, Western Carolina University History Department, March 2003.
Western Carolina University History Department Travel Award, Spring 2002.
Teaching Experience
Instructor, Georgia Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, Georgia, School of Liberal Arts (History), August-December 2011. Designed & implemented course: U.S. History from 1865 to the Present (intro).
Instructor, Department of History, University of Georgia, August 2010 – May 2011. Designed & implemented courses: Energy & Power (upper level); U.S. History from 1865 to the Present (intro); World Civilizations from 1500 to the Present (intro).
Teaching Assistant, University of Georgia, United States History To 1865 (3 semesters).
Teaching Assistant, University of Georgia, United States History Since 1865 (4 semesters).
Teaching Assistant, Scott Philyaw, North Carolina History, History Department (1 semester), Western Carolina University.
Public History Experience
Archival Processing Assistant, Eugene P. Odum Papers, Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, Summer 2009.
Research Assistant, Dr. Jim Manning, for a planned documentary film on “Cold Mountain,” Communication and Theater Arts Department, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina, Fall 2002.
Project Coordinator, Blue Ridge Parkway Public History Project, Dr. Scott Philyaw, History Department, Western Carolina University, Culllowhee, North Carolina, August 2001 – May 2002.
Published Book Reviews
Contributor to H-Environment Roundtable Review of Southern Water, Southern Power: How the Politics of Cheap Energy and Water Scarcity Shaped a Region, May 2016.
Review of Craig E. Colten, Southern Waters: The Limits to Abundance for Agricultural History 89, 4 (Fall 2015).
Review & Comment, “Engaging Race, Recreation and Environment,” on Andrew W. Kahrl, The Land Was Ours: African American Beaches from Jim Crow to the Sunbelt South, for H-Environment Roundtable Reviews (Volume 3, No. 6, July 9, 2013).
Review of Kathryn Newfont, Blue Ridge Commons: Environmental Activism and Forest History in Western North Carolina, for Environmental History 18, 1 (January 2013).
Review of David Welky, The Thousand-Year Flood: The Ohio-Mississippi Disaster of 1937, forThe Historian 74, 3 (Winter 2012).
Review of Steven Noll and David Tegeder, Ditch of Dreams: The Cross Florida Barge Canal and the Struggle for Florida’s Future, H-Net Reviews (April 2010).
Review of Robert Glennon, Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to Do About It, H-Water, H-Net Reviews (December 2009).
Review of Martin Melosi, volume ed., The New Encyclopedia of South Culture: Environment, Volume 8, for Louisiana History.
Review of Jeff Wiltse’s Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America. H-Water, H-Net Reviews (March 2009).
Review of Cynthia Barnett’s Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S. H-Water, H-Net Reviews (December 2008).
Academic Conference Panels & Presentations
Invited to comment on panel, “Diving into Histories of Water, Environment, and Technology of the American South,” at the Southern Historical Association annual meeting (St. Pete Beach, Florida), November 2016.
Panel co-organizer, and paper – “Sunbelt Transitions: The Power of Drought, 1954” – Southern Historical Association (Atlanta), November 2014. Commentator: Pete Daniel, National Museum of American History.
Paper Presented: “‘Paradise o’ Ponds:’ Resolving Agricultural and Urban Drought in Georgia, 1951-1956,”Agricultural History Society, June 2010.
Panel organizer; “Ideology and Action in Southern Environments,” Southern Historical Association, November 2009. Commentator: Elizabeth D. Blum, Troy State University.
Paper presented: “The Nature of Southeastern Lakes: Agriculture, Industry, and Leisure in the Savannah River Valley,” Southern Historical Association, November 2009.
“Still ‘For the Greatest Good’?: Managing Savannah River Valley Water-power, Floods, and Fish, 1930-1944,” Workshop in the History of the Environment, Agriculture, Technology, and Science (WHEATS), Mississippi State University, October 2009.
Panel organizer: “Drainage Districts, Private Power, and Conservation Policy in the American South, 1900-1940,” American Society for Environmental History Conference, February 2009. Commentator: Martin Reuss, Historian, United States Army Corps of Engineers (Ret.).
Paper presented: “Shaping Artificial Waterscapes: Georgia Power, the Tallulah River and the American South, 1913-1927,” American Society for Environmental History Conference, February 2009.
Paper presented: “Building Southern Waterscapes Before and After the TVA,” National Museum of American History Colloquium, Smithsonian Institution, January 6, 2009.
Paper presented: “The Nature of Southern Lakes: Reservoirs and Recreation in the Savannah River Valley, 1944-1990,” Southern Regional Conference on the History of Science and Technology (SHOST), Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, April 2008.
Moderator and co-organizer, Workshop in the History of the Environment, Agriculture, Technology, and Science (WHEATS), University of Georgia, October 2007.
Panel organizer: “Environmental and Cultural Histories of Southern Landscapes,” American Society for Environmental History Conference, March 2006. Commentator: Mart Stewart, Western Washington University.
Paper presented: “Cooperation and Division in the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River Corridor, 1965-76,” American Society for Environmental History Conference, March 2006.
Public Lectures & Presentations
Invited Talk, “Before TVA: Energy and Water in the New South,” as part of “Alabama Rigged,” an Alabama Humanities Foundation funded series, Gadsden Cultural Arts Foundation, May 20, 2016.
Invited Talk, “Energy and Water Scarcity in the New South,” for the Oconee County Public Library’s and the Oconee Heritage Center’s “The Land Before the Waters” series, sponsored by the South Carolina Humanities, Oconee County Public Library, Walhalla, South Carolina, April 21, 2016.
Invited Talk, “Water and Power in the American South,” the Mercer Senior University, November 11, 2015.
Invited to the 27th Annual Red Clay Conference, to participate in panel, “Sustaining Supply: Balancing Public and Private Water Usage,” University of Georgia Law School, February 27, 2015.
Invited Talk, “The Vital Role of Rivers in Georgia’s History and Development,” the Brenau University Life & Leisure Institute, January 8, 2015.
Invited Talk “Water and Politics: Adventures in Resource Planning,” for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Georgia, November 11, 2014.
Invited Talk, “Water and Politics in the Bankers Box,” the Politics of the Environment Session, Richard B. Russell, Jr. Library for Political Research and Studies’ 40th Anniversary Scholars and Policymakers Symposium, October 27-28, 2014.
Invited Talk for film screening, “Deliverance, the Chattooga River and Environmental History,” Cine Theater, Athens, Georgia, December 14, 2013.
Invited Talk and co-field guide, “Beauty and Utility: Tallulah Gorge and the Georgia Power Company, 1905-1927,” for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Georgia, November 19 and 21, 2013.
Invited to Participate on Panel by Union of Concerned Scientists, “Energy and Water in A Warming World,” Waterkeeper Annual Conference, Callaway Gardens, Georgia, June 6, 2013.
Invited Talk, “Hot and Dry: Energy and Water in Georgia,” Chattahoochee Nature Center, Roswell, Georgia, March 2012.
Invited Talk, “Red, Hot and Dry: New South Responses to Old Problems,” River Basin Center, University of Georgia, January 2012.
Invited to Participate on Panel: “High Water/Low Water: Lessons from Natural Extremes and Manmade Mistakes,” Deluge Exhibit Closing Day, Athens Institute for Contemporary Art (ATHICA), May 2010.
Invited Talk: “Dam Crazy: Southern Water and Southern Power,” Western Carolina University History Department, April 2010.
Invited Panel Presentation, “Environmental History and the American South,” Decatur Book Festival, Decatur, Georgia, September 2009.
Invited Commentator, Workshop in the Environmental and Agricultural History of the New South, University of South Carolina Institute for Southern Studies, Columbia, S.C., July 2009.
Invited Book Presentation, “Environmental History and the American South,” organized by the Georgia Center for the Book and Fulton County Central Library, Atlanta, Georgia, April 2009.
Invited Book Presentation, “Environmental History and the American South,” organized by the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center, Buford, Georgia, April 2009.
Invited lecture: “Wildness, Wolves & Labor in North Carolina,” Western Carolina University History Department, October 2005.
Memberships
American Society for Environmental History
Southern Historical Association
Leadership & Service
Invited to peer-review for: Agricultural History, Georgia Historical Quarterly, Southern Cultures, University of Georgia Press, and University of Tennessee Press.
Invited submission, “The Profession: From State Schools to the State Capitol,” American Society for Environmental History Quarterly Newsletter, Summer 2012.
Rachel Carson Prize Committee, American Society for Environmental History, 2011-2012.
Board Member, Upper Oconee Watershed Network, Athens, Georgia, January 2010-December 2011.
Agricultural History Society Book Auction Committee Member, for the Society’s Annual Meeting, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, June 2010
Graduate Student Representative, Department of History of Policy Committee, Spring 2008
Steering committee, National Issues Forum – Public Policy Institute, hosted by the University of Georgia’s Richard B. Russell Library, Spring & Summer 2007
PhD Representative, History Graduate Student Association, 2006-2007
National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), Instructor Course, May 2000, Lander, Wyoming
Non-Profit Employment Experience
Georgia River Network, Athens, Georgia.
Policy Director, January 2012-October 2016
Volunteer & part-time, beginning 2009
Duties: policy analysis; public & government affairs; communications; fundraising; event planning.
The Wilderness Society, Washington, DC.
Refuges and Wildlife Intern, Internship October–December 2000. Duties: policy research, coalition work.
Eagle’s Nest Foundation, Pisgah Forest, North Carolina
Program Director, Eagle’s Nest Camp, January–May 1999. Duties: risk management, purchasing, staffing.
Wilderness Program Coordinator, Outdoor Academy of the Southern Appalachians, January–May 1999
Outdoor Educator, Birch Tree Program, Seasonal 1997 & 1998
Trip Leader, Eagle’s Nest Camp, Seasonal 1997-2001
CHRISTOPHER MANGANIELLO
Alumnus (Graduate Program)
cmango@uga.edu
Christopher J. Manganiello's book manuscript, "Southern Water, Southern Power," is a story about environmental manipulation and political power. People have transformed every major river in region to secure cheap energy to fuel industrial and urban development. We have, however, been slow to acknowledge the consequences--the ecological transformations, urban drought, and the demands of the energy-water nexus on limited water supplies in a humid region assumed to have endless supplies of water. Today, southern consumers use more energy than any other region in the country. "Southern Water, Southern Power" illustrates how we got here, who led the charge, and why producing energy has always been a complicated business. Chris has also published in the Journal of the History of Biology, and has also co-edited a book, Environmental History and the American South: A Reader, with Paul S. Sutter (University of Georgia Press, 2009).
Matriculation Date:
August, 2004
Graduation Date:
May, 2010
Research Area(s):
U.S. South
Environment & Agriculture
U.S. 19th & 20th Century
Christopher Manganiello's Selected Publications
Manganiello, Christopher. “Dam Crazy With Wild Consequences: Artificial Lakes And Natural Rivers In The American South, 1845-1990”. Paul S Sutter. 2010: n. pag. Print.
Southern Water, Southern Power: How the Politics of Cheap
Energy and Water Scarcity Shaped a Region
Matthew L. Downs
Journal of Southern History.
82.3 (Aug. 2016): p721.
COPYRIGHT 2016 Southern Historical Association
http://www.uga.edu/~sha
Full Text:
Southern Water, Southern Power: How the Politics of Cheap Energy and Water Scarcity Shaped a Region. By Christopher J. Manganiello.
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015. Pp. [xiv], 306. $39.95, ISBN 978-1-4696-2005-3.)
In Southern Water, Southern Power: How the Politics of Cheap Energy and Water Scarcity Shaped a Region, Christopher J. Manganiello adds to
the growing historiography of the southern environment with an intriguing study of the relationship between regional water resources and the
power brokers who sought to control and conserve them. Focusing on the twentieth-century manipulation of the Savannah River, Manganiello
argues that conflicts over water have shaped (and continue to shape) the landscapes of the Southeast. His work provides important insights into
the nature of political and economic power, the relationship between southerners and the federal government, and the transformation of southern
society after World War II.
The Savannah River, which is located along the border between Georgia and South Carolina, has been dammed and diverted since before the
Civil War. Yet, as Manganiello observes, the development of New South industries in the surrounding area brought new interest in the river from
power companies, who used hydroelectricity to power existing factories and attract new ones. The federal government also played a key role in
manipulating water resources, exemplified elsewhere in the region by the work of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Embracing the "big
dam consensus," a belief that large-scale hydroelectric projects could control flooding, improve navigation, and provide affordable electricity, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planned a series of dams along the Savannah, although without the extensive regional planning that marked the
TVA's mission (p. 14).
Support for big dams survived World War II and the growing southern reaction against federal intervention, but it failed in the face of uncertain
resource availability. Power companies increasingly switched to coal (continuing to use the river for steam) and balked at governmental
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encroachment. Residents questioned the continued need for big, expensive dams as smaller, less intrusive solutions became feasible. By the late
1960s and 1970s, efforts to control the Savannah also ran into conservationist opposition, both from environmentalists and the "countryside
conservationists," who resented the pollution and diversion that made it difficult for residents to fish and boat on the waterway (p. 142).
Manganiello pays special attention to the efforts to preserve the Chattooga River, a tributary of the Savannah that was protected under the Wild
and Scenic Rivers Act (1974), though he notes that the popular crusade ran into opposition as residents opposed federal control of a valuable local
resource.
Manganiello provides insights into heated debates over the diversification of the southern economy, the impact and implications of the New Deal
and its approach to conservation, and the shape of economic development in the Sun Belt era. The author is less successful in tying debates over
water control to the larger social conflicts over labor and race that shaped the region. He does suggest that such issues were important in the
power struggles along the Savannah, and he notes where questions of land usage and recreation highlighted segregation and a lack of equal
access. Perhaps a more direct discussion of consumption would better explain how questions of race, class, and labor contributed to the debate
over water resources in a contested landscape. Nevertheless, Manganiello's book will draw much-needed attention to the history of the southern
environment, particularly to the way that southerners have sought to control that environment in the face of uncertainty and insecurity. Southern
Water, Southern Power should encourage future scholars to pay greater attention to the ways that natural resources, and efforts to control and
consume those resources, have shaped the modern South.
MATTHEW L. DOWNS
University of Mobile
Downs, Matthew L.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Downs, Matthew L. "Southern Water, Southern Power: How the Politics of Cheap Energy and Water Scarcity Shaped a Region." Journal of
Southern History, vol. 82, no. 3, 2016, p. 721+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA460447809&it=r&asid=51172c6f0f258bcb96c99324e76f9fae. Accessed 7 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A460447809
---
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Manganiello, Christopher J.: Southern water, southern
power: how the politics of cheap energy and water scarcity
shaped a region
T.S. Reynolds
CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries.
53.1 (Sept. 2015): p91.
COPYRIGHT 2015 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
Full Text:
Manganiello, Christopher J. Southern water, southern power: how the politics of cheap energy and water scarcity shaped a region. North
Carolina, 2015. 306p bibl index afp ISBN 9781469620053 cloth, $39.95; ISBN 9781469620060 ebook, $38.99
53-0211
HD1694
2014-37020 CIP
With this well-researched study, environmental historian Manganiello (policy director, Georgia River Network) makes a valuable contribution to
both environmental history and the history of southern industrialization. Despite the broad coverage suggested by the title, the focus is on the
Savannah River and its tributaries; that said, the author does a good job of offering both southern and national context. He discusses the subject in
terms of three eras: the New South (here, 1890-1930), when corporations began erecting large dams to produce cheap power; the depression/ WW
II era, when liberal regional planning proponents coalesced around federally constructed, multipurpose, big dams as the best water-control
solution; and the postwar Sun Belt era, when the Corps of Engineers emerged as the leading water and power broker, only to face increasing
resistance to its dominance. Most previous studies of the history of water management have focused on the arid US West rather than the
seemingly rainfall-abundant Southeast. Manganiello shows that similar issues--water insecurity, political infighting, and the desire for cheap
power--also influenced the Southeast. In the process, he reveals how complex conflicts between myriad individuals and institutions shaped the
Savannah River's watershed, and how each negotiated resolution only led to new problems. Valuable for political scientists as well as
environmentalists and historians. Summing Up: *** Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.--T.
S. Reynolds, emeritus, Michigan Technological University
Reynolds, T.S.
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Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Reynolds, T.S. "Manganiello, Christopher J.: Southern water, southern power: how the politics of cheap energy and water scarcity shaped a
region." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Sept. 2015, p. 91. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA428874812&it=r&asid=8b5f278a27224bcb9850f134191adfb7. Accessed 7 Mar.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A428874812
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1086026610368385?journalCode=oaec
My Review of Southern Water, Southern Power: How the Politics of Cheap Energy and Water Scarcity Shaped a Region
Southern Water, Southern Power: How the Politics of Cheap Energy and Water Scarcity Shaped a Region by Christopher J. Manganiello. The University of North Carolina Press, 320 pages.
I always lived near rivers. In Wisconsin, our home was near the Fox River in Racine County and my family had a summer cottage and farm near the Peshtigo River in Marinette County. When I moved to Florida in 1990, I lived near the Hillsborough River. Each of these streams was altered in some way by dams. The Fox River had an old dam that was important for flood control and milling. The Peshtigo River in far northern Wisconsin was dammed for hydroelectric power production. I spent many hours swimming and fishing on the reservoirs (Caldron Falls and High Falls) created by the dams. The spring fed Hillsborough River in Tampa was dammed for flood control and to maintain a steady water supply during Florida's pronounced dry season. If you think about rivers you know well, you will find that like my rivers, they too have been altered in some way. According to Christopher Manganiello in his new book, Southern Water, Southern Power: How the Politics of Cheap Energy and Water Scarcity Shaped a Region, the American south contains some of the most altered drainage basins and river systems in the world.
Manganiello's book takes an historical approach to the development of water resources in the south in that it transports us to the earliest days of water resource development in the region and then brings us forward in time to the new south era (1890-1930) and sunbelt south (post 1930) to nearly the present day. He takes a distinctly geographic approach in the book in that he focuses largely on streams in the Savannah River basin. In this masterfully researched book, Manganiello provides comprehensive historical case studies that weave together a number of important issues ranging from energy and development to government and access. Southern Water, Southern Power is a book that anyone who works in the field of water resources should read.
One of the book's major themes is historical landscape transformation associated with the development of drainage basins, particularly stream valleys for hydroelectric production. While many are aware of the spectacular dams of the west, such as Hoover Dam, the south, in fact, has more dams and more intensely altered landscapes as a result of development of southern rivers. While this transformation is significant, it has to be noted that the south goes through wide water boom and bust cycles that encouraged this transformation as regions sought to store or remove water depending on the season's hydrologic conditions.
Another major theme of the book is energy. With the exception of some areas of Appalachia (coal) and the lower Mississippi Valley (oil), the south is energy poor. Many saw the opportunity to develop the south's rivers for hydroelectric energy production as a means of broader regional economic development a la the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). This so-called white coal energy was used to promote economic development in areas that did not have nearby energy sources. Unfortunately, due to the notoriously irregular rainfall in the region, the dams did not supply a steady supply of energy and other energy sources had to be developed. As a result, the region is now home to not only many hydroelectric systems, but also clusters of nuclear power plants.
The frenzy of dam building throughout the region created a conflict over who was going to build dams and manage the energy. Was it going to be a private or public effort? If it was a public effort would it be the Army Corps of Engineers, the TVA, or would it be state or local initiatives? If it was a private effort, how would the usage of water be regulated? These issues mattered since each organization managed water resources differently. Many intergovernmental and public/private partnerships emerged during this period that significantly transformed the region's landscape and political environment. The role of politics was strong in determining what got build, by whom, and where.
Another important theme in the book is access to water. There are many competing interests for southern water: hydroelectric facilities, agriculture, thirsty cities, industry, and recreational activities. Different rivers, and different segments of rivers, all have unique development trajectories that privileged one activity over another. The book's case studies clearly show how politics and money influenced local choices and hydrologic development.
While the book highlights human influence on the streams, it must be stressed that rivers are natural things and react in their own way to human influence. Much of the southern river developments outlined in the book made the region less sustainable and out of whack with natural cycles. In some cases, nature fought back and caused significant challenges for developers. In other situations, the story is still to be played out as reservoirs slowly fill with silt and as subtle climate shifts change rainfall patterns. Yet the degree of development of southern rivers makes one consider how much engineering we have done to the environment and how we are more vulnerable to natural disasters as a result of the changes wrought on the landscape.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and heartily recommend it. However, I do have some critiques. The book contains only 5 illustrations and 4 maps. Given that the book covers a wide swath of time and place, there are many individuals and locations mentioned in the text that interested me. I found myself going online to find images of key actors or places. Since the book covers hundreds of years of history, I found myself wondering what images might exist in archives and special collections in the libraries throughout the region. I wish the author included some of these images and provided more geographic context in the maps. The addition of figures would have helped immensely since I found the writing dense at times. While I recommend the book for anyone interested in water resources, the general public may find it somewhat challenging due to the density of the writing. The addition of more maps, photographs, tables, or data would have made reading the book a more interesting and pleasurable experience.
I also take issue with the term Southern in the title. The south is sometimes a contested term in that what is southern to one person is not fully southern to a next. For example, some believe that West Virginia, Texas, or Missouri are southern states while to others, they belong in distinctly different regions. However, the south typically includes Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. When I picked up Southern Water, I thought the book would be about the entirety of the south. Instead, it focuses largely on a portion of the core of the south in North and South Carolina and Georgia. Given the complexity of water issues in other regions, particularly the karstic challenges of Florida and the highly complex hydrologic systems of the Mississippi Valley, I wish the book didn't have such a bold promise of reviewing the entirety of southern water issues.
Regardless, Manganiello's book is a fantastic addition to not only the topic of water in the south, but also environmental history in general. The case studies presented help to understand why water is so important to the region and its significance in the history of the United States.
Links to previous to On the Brink book reviews are found below.