Book Review: Deep Water

Over the decades, the reputation of dams has risen and fallen like the waters they restrain. They've been welcomed as world-changing technology, reviled as world-changing technology, embraced as fodder for bad puns. The profiles in Jacques Leslie's new book Deep Water reveal how divisive and inspiring dams can be, says reviewer Michelle Nijhuis, who 'really gives a dam.'

"We first meet Medha Patkar, a Bombay-born former social worker who has dedicated her life to battling a series of huge dams on India's Narmada River. The dams, already partially constructed, block "what may be the most revered river in the world," as Leslie writes, and have already inundated entire tribal villages."