A history of the science of hydrology as applied to the Nile, whose annual flows can produce acute drought or disastrous floods. The author makes it clear that the decisive forces in his complex story are political ones, in a context of internal and international rivalries and brutal civil wars.

This is a history of the hydropolitics of the Nile Valley from 1900 to 1988. Attempts to develop the Nile and control its waters are of vital significance to the future of the inhabitants of Egypt, the Sudan, Ethiopia, and East Africa. Acute drought and heavy flooding in the Nile Basin have brought disaster in the past, and the history of the area is the story of human effort to control the precious waters of the river. Written by Robert O. Collins, distinguished authority in the field, this highly interdisciplinary study will appeal to those interested in the environment, politics, third world development, anthropology, zoology, and economic history. Robert O. Collins, University of California, Santa Barbara, was the author Africa: A Short History and Darfur: The Long Road to Disaster (with J. Millard Burr), as well as many other titles available from Markus Wiener.