The Search for Water: A Human History of Thirst
Virginia Mendoza
Jun 2027 · Pushkin Press
Ebook
336
Pages
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infoThis book will become available on June 1, 2027. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
An anthropologist’s expansive, dazzling account of the story of human history through one common factor: our constant search for water.
“Inventive and far-reaching... weaving personal memory with planetary history.” —Times Literary Supplement
Virginia Mendoza's first memories are of drought. She grew up in La Mancha, Spain, the driest region in Europe. Her parents, grandparents, and almost every word, tool, and tradition of her homeland conveyed one conviction: without water, there is no life; without water, there is no civilization.
This personal reflection inspired Mendoza to begin a dazzling scientific and anthropological enquiry into the ways the search for water has shaped the story of humanity: from prehistoric flows of migration to the first hydraulic societies (which may have been in La Mancha), from agricultural developments and pagan rain god worship to contemporary struggles with drought and climate change.
Throughout history the search for water has driven great anatomical and metabolic adaptations, as well as social innovations and revolutions, and indeed the collapse of civilizations. Almost everything that defines our species came about in the face of climate changes, with the alternation of dry and wet periods.
As dams have ever-more dramatic effects on the populations and climate conditions around them, and as AI data centres consume unprecedented quantities of water, Mendoza’s gripping and inventive history of humankind as driven and united by one force—thirst—is both a historical study and a timely intervention.
“Inventive and far-reaching... weaving personal memory with planetary history.” —Times Literary Supplement
Virginia Mendoza's first memories are of drought. She grew up in La Mancha, Spain, the driest region in Europe. Her parents, grandparents, and almost every word, tool, and tradition of her homeland conveyed one conviction: without water, there is no life; without water, there is no civilization.
This personal reflection inspired Mendoza to begin a dazzling scientific and anthropological enquiry into the ways the search for water has shaped the story of humanity: from prehistoric flows of migration to the first hydraulic societies (which may have been in La Mancha), from agricultural developments and pagan rain god worship to contemporary struggles with drought and climate change.
Throughout history the search for water has driven great anatomical and metabolic adaptations, as well as social innovations and revolutions, and indeed the collapse of civilizations. Almost everything that defines our species came about in the face of climate changes, with the alternation of dry and wet periods.
As dams have ever-more dramatic effects on the populations and climate conditions around them, and as AI data centres consume unprecedented quantities of water, Mendoza’s gripping and inventive history of humankind as driven and united by one force—thirst—is both a historical study and a timely intervention.
An anthropologist’s expansive, dazzling account of the story of human history through one common factor: our constant search for water.
“Inventive and far-reaching... weaving personal memory with planetary history.” —Times Literary Supplement
Virginia Mendoza's first memories are of drought. Sh...
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About the author
Virginia Mendoza studied Journalism and Social and Cultural Anthropology. She works as a freelance journalist and has written for various media in Spain and Latin America, and she has published books on rootedness and uprooting in which she fuses narrative journalism and rural anthropology. The Search for Water, a hybrid of essay, historical anthropology and memoir, is currently being translated into three languages.
Thomas Bunstead was born in London in 1982 and lives in Pembrokeshire, west Wales. He has translated leading Spanish-language writers, including Maria Gainza and Enrique Vila-Matas, and won various awards, including an O. Henry Prize and the 2024 Cercador Prize for Literature in Translation.
Thomas Bunstead was born in London in 1982 and lives in Pembrokeshire, west Wales. He has translated leading Spanish-language writers, including Maria Gainza and Enrique Vila-Matas, and won various awards, including an O. Henry Prize and the 2024 Cercador Prize for Literature in Translation.
Virginia Mendoza studied Journalism and Social and Cultural Anthropology. She works as a freelance journalist and has written for various media in Spain and Latin America, and she has published books on rootedness and uprooting in which she fuses narrative journalism and rural anthropology. The S...
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