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Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles Paperback – February 23, 2016

by Les Standiford (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 605 ratings
Editors' pick Best Nonfiction
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The author of Last Train to Paradise tells the story of the largest public water project ever created—William Mulholland’s Los Angeles aqueduct—a story of Gilded Age ambition, hubris, greed, and one determined man who's vision shaped the future and continues to impact us today.

In 1907, Irish immigrant William Mulholland conceived and built one of the greatest civil engineering feats in history: the aqueduct that carried water 223 miles from the Sierra Nevada mountains to Los Angeles—allowing this small, resource-challenged desert city to grow into a modern global metropolis. Drawing on new research, Les Standiford vividly captures the larger-then-life engineer and the breathtaking scope of his six-year, $23 million project that would transform a region, a state, and a nation at the dawn of its greatest century.

With energy and colorful detail, Water to the Angels brings to life the personalities, politics, and power—including bribery, deception, force, and bicoastal financial warfare—behind this dramatic event. At a time when the importance of water is being recognized as never before—considered by many experts to be the essential resource of the twenty-first century—Water to the Angels brings into focus the vigor of a fabled era, the might of a larger than life individual, and the scale of a priceless construction project, and sheds critical light on a past that offers insights for our future.

Water to the Angels includes 8 pages of photographs.

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  1. Print length
    336 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    February 23, 2016
  4. Dimensions
    5.31 x 0.79 x 8 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0062251457
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0062251459
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“In this incredibly timely book, Les Standiford chronicles William Mulholland’s heroic drive to bring water to Los Angeles and thus to create the city we know today. It’s a powerful-and beautifully told-story of hubris, ingenuity, and, ultimately, deepest tragedy.” — Erik Larson

From the Back Cover

The story of William Mulholland's Los Angeles aqueduct, the largest public water project ever created—a tale of gilded age ambition, hubris, greed, and one determined man whose vision shaped the future

In 1907, Irish immigrant William Mulholland designed and began to build one of the greatest civil engineering feats in history: the aqueduct that carried water 233 miles from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Los Angeles—allowing this small, resource-challenged desert city to grow into a modern global metropolis. Drawing on new research, Les Standiford vividly captures the visionary engineer and the breathtaking scope of his six-year, $23 million project that would transform a region, a state, and a nation at the dawn of its greatest century. 

At a time when the importance of water is being recognized as never before, Water to the Angels brings into focus the vigor of a fabled era, the might of a larger-than-life individual, and the scale of a priceless construction project, shedding critical light on a past that offers insights for our future.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ecco; Reprint edition (February 23, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062251457
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062251459
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.79 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 605 ratings

About the author

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Les Standiford

Les Standiford

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I was born in the Appalachian outpost of Cambridge, Ohio, then a mining and manufacturing town where no one that I ever met claimed to have written a book of to know anyone who had. I was the first in a sprawling family to go to college (I began at the Air Force Academy, but finding myself ill-prepared for taking orders, finished up at Muskingum), tried law school (Columbia) as well as a number of other things, then stumbled into a creative writing program at the University of Utah where life finally began to make sense. That process was aided by a stint as a Screenwriting Fellow at the American Film institute, where I learned what a story was. That eventually lead to the publication of SPILL, my first novel, followed by nine more, then a leap out of mystery and into history with LAST TRAIN TO PARADISE, now nearing its 40th printing. I've been writing historical narratives ever since, ten of them, trying to imbue those books with the same vividness that I hoped to bring to the novels, and--you be the judge--trying to make history as interesting as real life.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
605 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Frederick S. Goethel
5.0 out of 5 stars The Story of William Mulholland and The Los Angeles Aqueduct
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2015
Verified Purchase
When you try to find books about the Los Angeles Aqueduct system, you can usually find books about the controversies surrounding the draining of Owens Lake or biographies of William Mulholland, but it is rare to find works that detail the construction of the aqueduct mixed with Mulholland's life during that time.

While there certainly is controversy over the building of the aqueduct system, with court battles continuing to this day, what tends to get lost is the genius behind the construction of the system. That is uses gravity as a primary means to move water several hundred miles is an engineering wonder that certainly deserves to have its story told.

This book contains a biography of Mulholland prior to and during the construction, a fairly detailed look at the construction, with a small amount of information on the controversies surrounding the aqueduct. It is well written, and contains a lot of information that surprised me and further fueled my interest in the subject.

A fine read for anyone, it is a particularly informative read for those of us here in California that are still dealing with drought and the need to move water about the state.
20 people found this helpful
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Steve Kay
4.0 out of 5 stars Good historical novel. Well written. Rate B+
Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2020
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Well written by a well-established author. A story they don’t teach you in school. Very good historical novel.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent account of William Mulholland's life and work
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2024
Verified Purchase
William Mulholland was mainly responsible for the design and construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the engineering marvel that made the growth of the Los Angeles we know today possible. He did not conceive the idea of the acqueduct on his own, but without his dedication and skill it may well have remained only an idea. The book covers much the same territory that other books on the subject do, but also contains new insights, such as the interview with the author of the screenplay for the movie "Chinatown." It is fairly light on 1928 collapse of the St. Francis Dam, but there are other books dealing specifically with that tragedy. In short, even if you have read other books on the acqueduct this one is still worth reading.
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Josh Olson
4.0 out of 5 stars It was a bit too heavy on the technical and engineering side but still a great read if you are interested in the history of ...
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2018
Verified Purchase
Fascinating story about Mulholland and how LA got its water. It was a bit too heavy on the technical and engineering side but still a great read if you are interested in the history of the LA Aqueduct.
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steven jones
5.0 out of 5 stars Story of an Amazing Man with a Vision
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2023
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I enjoyed this book about a man who had an amazing life and vision. It revealed a number of historical incidents like the collapse of the St. Francis Dam in 1928 which killed over 600 people of which I had not been aware.
The book was easy to read and took me back into a time when Southern California was just beginning to grow. I visit the Owen's Valley almost every year to photograph the Eastern Sierra mountains. I love the area, This book opened a new understanding of the areas history. Highly Recommended.
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nate
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read, but frustrating in that the author takes Mulholland's side on essentially every issue
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2018
Verified Purchase
Interesting book about William Mulholland, his rise to prominence and his biggest project, the LA Aqueduct. I will say that I enjoyed the book overall and found the accounts of how the aqueduct project got done were fascinating and well reported. It must be noted that the book is at times unnecessarily heavy on technical details that while I found tolerable (as a Civil Engineer), others without a technical background may find it offers confusion - not context. The reason for my feeling this was a 3-star book was for a couple reasons.

1) Perhaps I am a skeptic, but I don't think I believe many of the little anecdotes and "fun facts" about him. It is clear that the author is in awe of Mulholland and really enjoys these tidbits and peppers them in frequently. I'm sure that he did his due diligence and had evidence or accounts of all of these, however, I sincerely doubt that even half of them were learned through more than a single second or third-hand account. Many sound like tall tales of things he told his grandkids and at times the book has a Forrest Gumpian feel. An example is about how he apparently named "Caterpillar" heavy equipment by remarking that the machines, "crawl like a caterpillar [across the soil]." Whatever you say, Les.

2) The book lacks any meaningful or genuine criticism of him. I find that a bit perplexing considering that he himself, a "self-trained" engineer, designed a dam that failed with significant warning and killed nearly 500 people. He was even sent to inspect obvious signs of impending failure the day before and did nothing. This is a monumental failure/dereliction of duty that deserves massive examination and criticism, of which this text offers none. The aqueduct project also resulted in dozens of deaths of workers, many directly due to the head of the project not having the experience to exercise caution at critical junctures or properly train workers. Mulholland was clearly in over his head but had the political backing and money to push the project to completion.

Regarding point 2, I'll grant that this project was a monumental undertaking that in many ways had to get done for Los Angeles to exist and Mr. Mulholland is the one who tirelessly pulled all the strings to actually achieve it. It is without question a remarkable achievement by a person who pushed hard and found himself in the right position at the right time and knew how to garner the right political support and community backing. This was obviously in the days of bravado over technical ability or safety. This was long before OSHA so I can't judge him based on today's construction world but in my opinion that does not absolve the man's clear and significant failings of proper criticism.
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