No one misses water until it dries up

Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind

As Brian Fagan shows, every human society on every continent has been shaped by its relationship to a resource which is both “capricious and powerful, far more masterful than the humans and animals that depend on it”.

In his preface, Fagan writes: “History teaches us that the societies that last longest are those that treat water with respect, as an elixir of life, a gift from the gods. We seem to have forgotten this compelling lesson.”