American Oasis - by Kyle Paoletta (Hardcover)

About the Book

Albuquerque. Phoenix. Tucson. El Paso. Las Vegas. Iconic American cities surrounded by desert and rust. Teeming metropolises that seem to exist independently of the seemingly inhospitable and arid landscape that surrounds them, belying the rich insight they offer into American stories of migration, industry, bloodshed, and rebirth. Charting a geographic path through America's largest and hottest deserts, acclaimed journalist Kyle Paoletta maps the past and future of these cities, and the many other settlements from rural town to urban sprawl that make up the region that has come to be called "the American Southwest." Weaving together the stories of immigrants and indigenous populations, American Oasis pulls back the layers of settlement, sediment, habit, and effect that successive empires have left on the region, from the Athapascan, DiÅ, Tewa, Apache, and Comanche, to the Spanish, Mexican, and, finally, American. As Paoletta's journey into the Southwest's history becomes inextricably linked to an exploration of its dependency on water, he begins to ask: where, ultimately, will cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix find themselves once the Colorado River and its branches dry up? Richly reported and sweeping in its history, American Oasis is the story of what one iconic region's past can tell us about our shared envivironmental and cultural future.

Book Synopsis

An expansive and revelatory historical exploration of the multicultural, water-seeking, land-destroying settlers of the most arid corner of North America, arguing that in order to know where the United States is going in the era of mass migration and climate crisis we must understand where the Southwest has already been

"A lively, thoughtful tour."--The Los Angeles Times - "Elegant."--The New Yorker

"Essential reading for understanding the forces shaping the modern Southwest--and, possibly, the planet's future."--New Mexico Magazine

Albuquerque. Phoenix. Tucson. El Paso. Las Vegas. Iconic American cities surrounded by desert and rust. Teeming metropolises that seem to exist independently of the seemingly inhospitable and arid landscape that surrounds them, belying the rich insight they offer into American stories of migration, industry, bloodshed, and rebirth.
Charting a geographic path through America's largest and hottest deserts, acclaimed journalist Kyle Paoletta maps the past and future of these cities, and the many other settlements from rural town to urban sprawl that make up the region that has come to be called "the American Southwest." Weaving together the stories of immigrants and indigenous populations, American Oasis pulls back the layers of settlement, sediment, habit, and effect that successive empires have left on the region, from the Athapascan, Diné, Tewa, Apache, and Comanche, to the Spanish, Mexican, and, finally, American.
As Paoletta's journey into the Southwest's history becomes inextricably linked to an exploration of its dependency on water, he begins to ask: where, ultimately, will cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix find themselves once the Colorado River and its branches dry up? Richly reported and sweeping in its history, American Oasis is the story of what one iconic region's past can tell us about our shared environmental and cultural future.

Review Quotes

"[An] elegant book. . . . Through a series of sensitive portraits of the region's biggest cities [American Oasis] demonstrates how Southwesterners' centuries of experience with extreme heat, water scarcity, and 'stitching a complex social fabric' from groups of Native Americans, Hispanics, Anglos, and immigrants can impart lessons for other cities facing similar challenges."--The New Yorker

"A lively, thoughtful tour. . . . The portraits that emerge both enhance and poke holes in the stories the Southwest tells itself. . . . The chapter on Las Vegas is itself a small masterpiece that should be read by anyone seeking to understand a city that seems to defy comprehension."--The Los Angeles Times

"[Paoletta] understands that we underestimate and segregate the Southwest at our peril. No part of the country is immune from drought or reckless development. . . . 'How different would the contemporary Southwest be if, when Anglos arrived, they'd simply accepted that the desert was hot?' he writes. It's a good question, and not a regional one -- a whole country on a heating planet will have to reckon with it."--The Washington Post

"Sprawling, ambitious, deeply researched."--The San Francisco Chronicle

"[Paoletta] writes about the Southwest with care, holding its histories of both violence and resilience. . . . American Oasis is a deeply reported account of the people and places that make up a complex American landscape. It's also a road map to a resilient future."--Sierra

"Offers a compelling exploration of five Southwestern metropolises [with] analysis that is both critical and affectionate. . . . American Oasis is essential reading for understanding the forces shaping the modern Southwest--and, possibly, the planet's future." --New Mexico Magazine

"American Oasis offers lessons for a hotter, drier world. . . . Paoletta takes readers on a virtual road trip around his native region, transporting us across hundreds of years and thousands of miles." --Associated Press

"Paints an illuminating and disturbing picture of our future. . . . Paoletta lays bare the common mythologies of the American west to highlight the region's dependency on water and the increasing desperation these cities face in the era of advancing climate change."--Chicago Review of Books

"An indispensable regional history and an insightful consideration of how the Southwest's experience may provide a blueprint for the future of the entire country." --Shelf Awareness

"Impressive. . . . Both a love letter and a warning, [American Oasis is] a fascinating look at a complicated corner of our country." --Columbia Magazine

"Peppered with fascinating historical tidbits gleaned as Paoletta traverses the region and encounters colorful characters. . . . An enjoyable and immersive travelogue." --Publishers Weekly

"American Oasis helps us to understand our hotter, tougher future by showing us how people and civilizations have both thrived (and collapsed) in the desert Southwest over the last thousand years. Paoletta's deep research and irrepressible personal passion describes a way forward in tune with what has come before." --Beto O'Rourke

"[A] sweeping debut. . . . Paoletta smartly synthesizes the concerns of the writers, laborers, and others he interviews. . . . The evidence plainly backs his conclusion that the Southwest needs to increase resource conservation and other 'communal' practices." --Kirkus

"A thoughtful exploration of the realities and history of the Southwest in the U.S." --Library Journal

"A phenomenal book. American Oasis is much more than a sweeping and brilliant account of the Southwest. It's essential reading about our past, present, and--if we have one--future."--Andy Borowitz, author of Profiles in Ignorance

"Paoletta, a discerning son of the Southwest, takes us back to the future--that is, to the hotter, drier, crispier future the whole nation can expect if current trends continue. This richly reported work of history and contemporary travelogue tells the epic, fantastical story of five sun-scorched metropolises that, having risen mirage-like from the desert, give us insights into how our urban civilization might survive--even thrive." --Hampton Sides, author of The Wide Wide Sea

"A deeply engaging work--superbly written and powerfully researched--American Oasis is destined to play an important role in debates about the future of arid climate survival and the built environment. Paoletta is going on the shelf next to Gretel Ehrlich, Gary Nabhan, Luis Urrea, and other inspiring thinkers who critically consider the West and the complexities of settlement."--Raquel Gutiérrez, author of Brown Neon

"In this shimmering and revelatory book, Kyle Paoletta bridges the deep history and future of the Southwest, and somehow connects it all, movingly, to our larger American story. I couldn't put it down." --Ross Andersen, The Atlantic

"These are the hats of Kyle Paoletta: traveler, historian, naturalist, reporter, memoirist, diagnostician, advocate. All come together in this powerful treatment of the great Southwestern deserts, viewed through their cities and suburbs, a veritable flock of canaries in the coalmine that is climate change. American Oasis tells a complex human story of wisdom and stupidity--but also of possibility and perhaps even hope." --Philip J. Deloria, Leverett Saltonstall Professor of History, Harvard University

"A chronicle as twisted and colorful as the region itself, replete with backroom dealers, fearless activists, shameless land-grabbers, and artistic visionaries who have shaped the Southwest. The result is a supremely entertaining, enlivening, and infuriating account of the beauty, injustice, warmth, and weirdness of one of the most misunderstood regions in the United States. Epic." --Andrew Leland, author of The Country of the Blind

"Paoletta has written an eye-opening history of a region too many Americans find it convenient to pretend doesn't have one. In the process he shows why the Southwest, in all its contradiction and impossibility, might hold the key to our future. American Oasis is meticulously researched and reported by one of the best young journalists at work today, but what really makes it sing is the deeper knowledge--and love--of a native son." --Christopher Beha, author of The Index of Self-Destructive Acts

"American Oasis not only provides a detailed and engaging history, but also a vision of the future through the lessons of the American desert. Paoletta teaches us and, ultimately, compels us to act if we are going to have any future at all." --Jay Caspian Kang, author of The Loneliest Americans

"What a wonder this book is! Paoletta's curiosity and learning run deep as the Vishnu schist, while his empathy and understanding extend out to the far horizon. Paoletta's deep thinking about the American West--across red mesas, scant waters and improbable cities--is as essential as it is companionable."-- Rivka Galchen, author of Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch

"For millennia, Indigenous people of the American Southwest have maintained cultural practices to ensure the protection and continuance of the people, the land, and all its resources. Prophecies associated with great changes in our way of life, to our environment, and to considerations about our shared future, as conveyed in our oral tradition, are presented in a thought-provoking way in American Oasis. The extent to which we can fulfill our responsibilities to the Earth Mother, and on behalf of those not yet born, will depend on how and if, the colonizing, dominant society can live more responsibly." --Brian Vallo, Former Governor - Pueblo of Acoma

About the Author

Kyle Paoletta's reporting and criticism has appeared in The New York Times, Harper's, New York Magazine, The Nation, The New Republic, n+1, The Believer, The Columbia Journalism Review, The Baffler, High Country News, and Boston. Kyle holds an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University and previously worked at GQ and New York Magazine. He grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.