The Organic Machine by Richard White

Banner Jr., James M., A Century of American Historiography (The Rise of Environmental History), Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's; First Edition edition, 2009, pp. 1

Cronon, William, Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West, Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st Edition edition, 1992, pp. 1

White, Richard, The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia River, Publisher: Hill and Wang, 1996, pp. 10-144

TOPIC: The Organic Machine by Richard White

THESIS: The thesis statement of this paper is discussion preperation paper of the organic machine by Richard White.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: Richard White's "Organic Machine" is a neat display of erudition and intelligence. Through the prism of the Columbia river, the book delves into the difficult relations between native Americans and white settlers. It shows the stronghold an aluminum multinational on local economy and politics. It informs us about the megalomania of giant state bureaucracies. It analyses the emergence and subsequent (enormously expensive) blunders in managing nuclear reactors, followed by the immense human and economic costs. It explores the society's attitudes to endangered species such as salmon, threatened with extinction because of technical progress. It shows us the power and resilience of a large river, unwilling to yield to the numerous dams built during the last 100 years.

The Organic Machine discussed the Columbia River since it was first known and how it serves such a big part in all of our lives. The book goes through four major chapters: Knowing Nature through Labor, Putting the River to Work, The Power of the River, and Salmon. All of these topics are very major issues about the river, and without the Columbia River in our region, life would be totally different (White, 10-144).

In the early days of the Columbia River and ships, the river was a mighty force. Not many ships made their journeys up the Columbia without running into some major problems. The early Columbia had raging rapids, swift currents, and was known as a very dangerous river. Over time, as we know, it has been blocked up with dams, which slow the current and take away the major rapids. Ships in the early days were known to get thrashed and destroyed making a journey up river, if they made it at all. It took lots of manpower and very hard work to move a boat up the Columbia because the current was dangerous and scary.

To be able to put the river to work, we had to change the river to make it fit our needs. We eventually built many dams, which created cheap electricity for us, but also harm the environment. They are not good because it makes a very big roadblock in the way of salmon travel. One good thing by building dams in the river, besides electricity, was it slowed the current so huge ships could move upriver to cities and ports. Being able to ship goods over water was much more convenient and cheaper than moving them over land. By being able to ship goods upriver, it gave people ...