Couple centuries back the call “go west, young man!” propelled settlers and homesteaders into the Louisiana Purchase and beyond into New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and California. Our mythic vision of “conquering” the west envisioned cowboys and ranches with cattle and crops abundant. Indians were resettled onto reservations, although many did not go quietly. Fast forward to today, with many millions of people inhabiting oasis cities like Vegas, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, sustained by dams and water projects that feed water out for irrigation, and cause rival special interests to lobby for rights to dwindling supplies. Farmers, ranchers, and the general voting public still yearn to maintain the values represented by “taming” the west, six gun in holster, cattle lasso at the ready. It is a powerful image, not one easily refuted. What refutes it? Science. The west is drying up, due in part to climate change, growing populations using up underground water that fell as rain centuries earlier (when no one lived there), cattle production, and dams redirecting river water to irrigate fields instead of replenishing underground reserves. Those who think short-term and expect the government to solve the problem are in for a big surprise. According to the author of Cadillac Desert (a classic examination of the history of water in the west) “unless people change, the desert will reclaim the west. The desert cities will see a mass exodus.” This audiobook by Marc Reisner, read by Francis Spieler and Kate Udall, contains an apocalyptic postscript by Lawrie Mott. California wildfires and droughts will increase in time, while flooding and hurricanes will dominate the eastern seaboard. Some of the points made by the book, whose subtitle is “The American West and Its Disappearing Water,” are: 1) Instead of cattle we should raise bison, which require much less water. (Settlers killed bison for sport by the thousands from trains.) 2) Dams on rivers exist in the thousands, but are not sustainable, and kill untold millions of fish like salmon. Some are dangerous, such as several located near earthquake faults in California. A wall of water twenty stories high coming down main street is not something a non-superhero could survive. 3) No single politician has or will ever be able to solve this problem. It is too complex. Just ask Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie Chinatown. (The Owens Valley water wars that inspired the film are but one of the scandals explored in the book.) No one can predict when exactly it will happen, and few are even asking. Short term profits beat long term solutions in American politics, as everyone scrambles for their cut before the bowl goes dust.
George Orwell once said that, “Sports is war minus the shooting.” Award winning sports journalist George Dohrmann has compiled a select tribute to fandom in SUPERFANS, which utilizes the stories of actual fans whose extreme love of sports animate the text. Part psychology, part revelatory confession, the audiobook is narrated by former sports radio host, actor, and voiceover talent Chris Ciulla (audiobooks to video games such as Fallout 4.) Ciulla is an engaging narrator whose tone fits the material without being melodramatic. After all, some of the “superfans” are melodramatic enough. One Vikings fan posted 1000 times a year on a message board, besides watching games. Shrines to teams are assembled around TV sets. A church pastor admitted to be a “crazy” fan of the Cowboys, while a church podium in one parking lot ushered in new fans devoting their lives forever with the ending shout, “Score!” Another fan threatened the life of an opponent’s family although he was a professional and family man himself. Still, Dohrmann denies sports is religion, despite the Religion of Sport series on Directv. In editing fan stories to let fans do most of the talking, Dohrmann maintains his distance from criticism, instead letting some of the psychologists he interviewed do the job of talking about player concussions, domestic violence, and time lost to superfans whose devotion to teams is due to their identity with the team, and may consume their lives. Will appeal to fans and sports atheists alike.
Award winning sports journalist George Dohrmann has compiled a select tribute to fandom utilizing the stories of actual fans whose extreme love of sports animate the text. Part psychology, part revelatory confession, the audiobook is narrated by former sports radio host, actor, and voiceover talent Chris Ciulla with an engaging tone befitting the material without being melodramatic. Vikings fans are melodramatic enough: one posted 1000 times a year on a message board, besides watching games. Shrines to teams are assembled around TV sets. A church podium ushers in new fans devoting their lives forever with the ending shout, “Score!” In editing fan stories, Dohrmann lets psychologists he interviewed talk about player concussions, domestic violence, and any negatives. Will appeal to fans and sports atheists alike.
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