This study explores the people and the politics behind the power of water, one of the key issues for the world in the coming decades. The author examines the squabbling that is already breaking out over the fate of great international rivers, such as the Nile and the Ganges. As the best dam sites are used up, underground water stores are plundered and global warming empties the reservoirs. Pearce looks at the huge new aqueducts that will criss-cross the continents and discusses the prospect of them being the cause of future wars.