Felipe Fernández-Armesto
Liquid Assets
Thirst: Water & Power in the Ancient World
By Steven Mithen
Weidenfeld & Nicolson 347pp £20 order from our bookshop
Water is the most plentiful substance on the planet, covering 75 per cent of its surface and filling more than 90 per cent of its cubic capacity. Yet if we believe some pundits, imminent scarcity will parch farming, turn gardens into deserts, spark violence between tinder-dry belligerents, and choke humankind with thirst. Steven Mithen depicts a future that ‘looks bleak’ because
with the world’s population having breached seven billion, continuing mega-urbanisation, climate change altering the global distribution of rainfall, and the increasing frequency of extreme events … it is inevitable that even greater numbers of people will be affected by drought and flood.
He pauses to ask whether ‘this is really the case or a misapprehension’ but, as usual, the intoxication of argument dissolves all inhibitions, as the author proposes to seek precedents for the current ‘global water crisis’ in the failed water-management methods of ancient societies.
His fellow archaeologist, Brian Fagan, published a similar book last year. Elixir: A Human History of Water was more ambitious than Thirst, with a more impressive range, because it drew on recent studies from anthropologists’ casebooks as well as archaeological data. But Mithen limits his enquiry to a few ancient
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Surveillance, facial recognition and control: my review of @jonfasman's "We See It All" https://literaryreview.co.uk/watching-the-watchers via @Lit_Review
I reviewed Diary of a Film by Niven Govinden for @Lit_Review https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-directors-cut
'Retired judges have usually had long careers on the bench, during which they have acquired an ingrained reticence when it comes to speaking on controversial topics. Not so Sumption.'
Dominic Grieve reviews Jonathan Sumption's 'Law in a Time of Crisis'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-case-for-the-citizen