Joe Mondragon, 36, is a feisty hustler with a talent for trouble who slams his battered pickup to a stop, tugs on his gumboots, and marches into an arid patch of ground. Then, illegally, he taps into the main irrigation channel--and so begins Nichols's classic tale of the little guy against the big guy.

jWhen we think of water in the West, we think of conflict and crisis. In recent years, newspaper headlines have screamed, "Scarce water and the death of California farms," "The Dust Bowl returns," "A 'megadrought' will grip U.S. in the coming decades." Yet similar stories have been appearing for decades and the taps continue to flow. John Fleck argues that the talk of impending doom is not only untrue, but dangerous. When people get scared, they fight...

The American Southwest has been decimated by drought. Nevada and Arizona skirmish over dwindling shares of the Colorado River, while California watches, deciding if it should just take the whole river all for itself. Into the fray steps Las Vegas water knife Angel Velasquez. Detective, assassin, and spy, Angel "cuts" water for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, ensuring that lush, luxurious arcology developments can bloom in the desert and that...

Private eye Jake Gittes, living off the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-war Southern California is hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair. Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together for one, unforgettable night in Chinatown.