Description
In a photographic response to the crisis of drought in the West, six photographers illustrate why water is not a commodity or a legal right, but the most basic source of physical life. Ellen Manchester's introduction provides a historical perspective for the Water in the West project and the book features photographs by Mark Klett, Terry Evans, Laurie Brown, Peter Goin, Robert Dawson, Martin Stupich, Gregory Conniff, and Wanda Hammerbeck.

Reviews
"This extremely handsome volume combines Ellen Manchester's informative and lucid text, which considers the photographic history of the American West and the inspiration for the Water in the West Project, with striking photographs . . . This collection certainly represents an outstanding debut, and one hopes that more will follow." —J. Gerard Dollar, ISLE, Spring 1994

"The photos cover the great irony which lies, literally, at the root of the Southwestern city: we live as though water were plentiful in a land where it is scarce. The historical photos blend nicely toward the contemporary ones, effectively showing how the illusion began and how it has been cultivated through the century." —David Bajo