Despite the central importance that water has held for civilizations both ancient and modern, its social significance has made surprisingly little impact on our contemporary understanding of human history and development. Dominant interpretations of the relationship between society and nature have remained water blind. In Water and Society historian and leading water expert Terje Tvedt argues for a change that acknowledges the significant role played by water in societal development. Reflecting his expertise as a geographer, historian and a political scientist, and drawing on his wide experience of water issues around the world, Terje Tvedt s Water and Society provides a long overdue reappraisal of the relationship between water and society, one that gives water its rightful place as central to any true understanding of human history and development."

Terje Tvedt is Professor of Geography at the University of Bergen and has been Professor of Political Science and of Global History at the University of Oslo, Norway. He has published extensively on water-related topics. His books include The River Nile in the Age of the British (2004), A Journey in the Future of Water (2013), and he is the Series Editor of the pioneering History of Water series. He has also made three award-winning TV-documentaries on water: A Journey in the History of Water, The Future of Water and The Nile Quest.

Contents
1. The water planet and the need for a paradigm shift
2. Water-society systems and the success of the west
3. Rivers and empire
4. Water-society systems and comparative religion
5. The city and water in history
6. The idea of sovereignty, the myth of Westphalia and the web of water
7. International water agreements and international water bodies - confluences between geography and law
8. Water-society relations and the history of the long term
9. Climate ad climate change
10. Water-society systems: some theoretical issues
Epilogue
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index