Excellent work detailing the history of Grand Coulee Dam! This 500 page book by historian Paul Pitzer provides an in depth look at the Grand Coulee Dam in north-central Washington state and the politics and decisions which made the dam what it is today. The book is very thoroughly researched with an extensive bibliography and over 100 pages of endnotes. Anyone who is interested in Grand Coulee Dam or the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project needs to read this book!

Back Cover Text

"The Eighth Wonder of the World"

"The Largest Reclamation Project Ever Undertaken"

Those were among the accolades frequently lavished on Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project. They hightlight a monumental construction effort that spanned the 1930s through the 1980s. Now, for the first time, the story of this gigantic undertaking is told in this definitive, spirited history.

When completed, the huge monolith at Grand Coulee on the Columbia River in north-central Washington became the biggest single block of concrete ever laid. One of the largest energy-producing stations in the world, it also supports one of the world's largest irrigation projects.

In the capable hands of Paul Pitzer, the fight for Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Project is a vital, animated saga of people striving for dazzling goals and then working to build something spectacular.

"...merits a place beside Charles McKinley's Uncle Sam in the Pacific Northwest as one of the most significant studies examining the Pacific Northwest yet to be published." -- Richard Lowitt, author of The New Deal and the West

"Paul Pitzer's marvelous book on Grand Coulee is at once the most complete history of the dam's construction and the best account of its importance to Pacific Northwest history." -- William L. Lang, Director, Center for Columbia River History

About the Author

Paul C. Pitzer has taught American history at Aloha High School in Beaverton, Oregon, since 1969. He spent two years with the Peace Corps in Iranian Azarbaijan, and holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Oregon. Among his publications are a number of articles on Northwest history and the book, Building the Skagit, published in 1978.