Description
Book SynopsisLong considered a natural wonder, the world’s most famous waterfall is anything but.
Fixing Niagara Falls reveals the engineering and politics behind the transformation of Niagara Falls.
Trade ReviewMacfarlane has crafted an exemplary work of scholarship. -- Donald C. Jackson, Lafayette College * Technology and Culture *
Historians and general readers interested in the Falls and in issues connected with the associated technological and political background will appreciate this work.
-- A.M. Strauss, Vanderbilt University * CHOICE *
Fixing Niagara Falls is an excellent monograph that cleverly analyzes how engineering interventions and human hubris helped make the Niagara Falls that we are familiar with today. -- Clarence Hatton-Proulx * NiCHE *
"… Macfarlane’s great contribution is to provide a comprehensive account of the creation of the engineering complex at Niagara Falls…"
-- Mark Sholdice, King’s University College at Western University * Ontario Historical Society Review *
With this carefully researched study, we find in Niagara Falls a locus of past concerns that reverberate today: the realities of appropriation, the hubristic underbelly of "green" energy, the politics of energy transitions and exports, the power struggles between provincial, state, and federal governments. -- Kyle Wyatt * Literary Review of Canada *
Table of ContentsForeword: Iconic Falls, Contrived Landscapes, and Tantalizing Opportunities
Graeme Wynn
Introduction: Characterizing Niagara
1 Harnessing Niagara: Developments up to the Twentieth Century
2 Saving Niagara: Innovation and Change in the Early Twentieth Century
3 Negotiating Niagara: Environmental Diplomacy and the 1950 Treaty
4 Empowering Niagara: Diversions and Generating Stations
5 Disguising Niagara: The Horseshoe Falls Waterscape
6 Preserving Niagara: The American Falls Campaign
Conclusion: Fabricating Niagara
Notes; Bibliography; Index
