Terje Tvedt is Professor of Geography at the University of Bergen and Professor of Political Science at the University of Oslo. A Past President of the International Water History Association, he has published extensively on water-related topics and is the author of a number of influential books, including The River Nile in the Age of the British (I.B.Tauris,2004), which was shortlisted for the BRISMES Prize. He is Editor of the series History of Water (I.B.Tauris) and has written and presented two successful television documentaries on water, shown in 150 countries.

Tvedt is a historian as well as a geographer, and like other fine travel writers, he is adept at putting our current situation - and the various efforts of governments around the world to secure their water supplies - in their historical context. This adds enormous depth and interest to his account, making it as much (or perhaps more) a book for the bedside as the desk.

• Preface : A Journey in WaterPART I: THE NEW UNCERTAINTY ABOUT WATER1. To the rivers in heaven and the centre of the world2. A pump tour in the Netherlands3. The icy barrens that became the world's 'hot spot'4. The city that refuses to drown5. The Aztecs' 'land on water' and the Mayans' subterranean water worldPART II: IN THE TIME OF THE WATER LORDS6. South Africa's brief 'water war' 7. A water festival in Spain8. To the Nile 9. Where the Blue Nile and the White Nile meet10. Dams and baptisms in Ethiopia11. On the Scandinavian rain coast 12. Dethroning the powers of the monsoon13. Flood plain14. To the Himalayas and the 'war in heaven'15. Where the most sacred river is toxic16. The dark horse at the roof of the world17. “Cool” water - Paris and LourdesPART III: A NEW WATER AGE 18. Walking on water in California 19. In the Sahara - a new man-made Nile Valley 20. History's grandest engineering project in China 21. Turn Those Siberian Rivers Around Now!22. To the subterranean 'great lake' in the ancient land of theIndians23. An island of the sagas enters the age of waterEpilogueNotesBibliography Index

Terje Tvedt is Professor of Geography at the University of Bergen and Professor of Political Science at the University of Oslo. A Past President of the International Water History Association, he has published extensively on water-related topics and is the author of a number of influential books, including The River Nile in the Age of the British (I.B.Tauris,2004), which was shortlisted for the BRISMES Prize. He is Editor of the series History of Water (I.B.Tauris) and has written and presented two successful television documentaries on water, shown in 150 countries.

Tvedt is a historian as well as a geographer, and like other fine travel writers, he is adept at putting our current situation - and the various efforts of governments around the world to secure their water supplies - in their historical context. This adds enormous depth and interest to his account, making it as much (or perhaps more) a book for the bedside as the desk.

• Preface : A Journey in WaterPART I: THE NEW UNCERTAINTY ABOUT WATER1. To the rivers in heaven and the centre of the world2. A pump tour in the Netherlands3. The icy barrens that became the world's 'hot spot'4. The city that refuses to drown5. The Aztecs' 'land on water' and the Mayans' subterranean water worldPART II: IN THE TIME OF THE WATER LORDS6. South Africa's brief 'water war' 7. A water festival in Spain8. To the Nile 9. Where the Blue Nile and the White Nile meet10. Dams and baptisms in Ethiopia11. On the Scandinavian rain coast 12. Dethroning the powers of the monsoon13. Flood plain14. To the Himalayas and the 'war in heaven'15. Where the most sacred river is toxic16. The dark horse at the roof of the world17. “Cool” water - Paris and LourdesPART III: A NEW WATER AGE 18. Walking on water in California 19. In the Sahara - a new man-made Nile Valley 20. History's grandest engineering project in China 21. Turn Those Siberian Rivers Around Now!22. To the subterranean 'great lake' in the ancient land of theIndians23. An island of the sagas enters the age of waterEpilogueNotesBibliography Index