Dams, once a titanic symbol of modern man’s ability toharness nature, have been exposed as a mixed blessing. As Dalhousie Universityarchitecture professor Christine Macy writes in her new book, the structureshave “turned deserts into orchards, slacked the thirst of millions,” but havealso “prevented salmon from spawning, flooded forests and fields, displacedpopulations...”
With over 800 historic photographs culled from thecollection of the Library of Congress, Macy’s Dams (W.W. Norton) could easily have been a celebration of humaningenuity and engineering. Instead, her narrative sounds a more nuanced noteabout the costs and benefits of dam building that runs contrary to the heroicintent of many of the images she assembled, which were often produced notmerely to record the appearance of dams but to promote them as symbols ofprogress.
The massive Hoover Dam and other familiar edifices areincluded in her book, but most of the pages are devoted to smaller, moreobscure projects. Wisconsin is well represented with pictures of locks and damsin Alma, Appleton, Chippewa Falls and elsewhere.
American Dams
Costs, Benefits and Architecture
