It’s hard to escape news about water these days. Drought on the West Coast, hurricane season raging on the East Coast, and NASA found water on Mars. No matter where you are, these books will drench you. Whether they are addressing water’s ability to bring life or cause destruction, or exploring the political and social ramifications of who has it and who needs it, they all are carried on a liquid current. Take me to the river.
Fiction
- Oil on Water by Helon Habila
- The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
- Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta
- Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
- City of Refuge by Tom Piazza
- A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
Non-Fiction
- Rain: A Natural and Cultural History by Cynthia Barnett
- Everybody Loves a Good Drought: Stories from India’s Poorest Districts by Palagummi Sainath
- Betting the Farm on a Drought: Stories from the Front Lines of Climate Change by Seamus McGraw
- Midnight on the Line: The Secret Life of the U.S.-Mexico Border by Tim Gaynor
- Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America by Jeff Wiltse
- Opposing Currents: The Politics of Water and Gender in Latin America by Sonia Dvila-Poblete
- The Devil’s Highway: A True Story by Luis Alberto Urrea
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Original logo art by Esme Blegvad.