The quest for water led to the systematic displacement of rural and indigenous communities, such as the diversion of water from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles and the flooding of tribal lands for the Garrison Dam . 'Cadillac Desert' Reconsidered - The American Prospect

Water development was driven less by necessity and more by political capital, bureaucratic rivalry (specifically between the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers ), and class interests.

The book's central thesis is that the settlement of the West was largely a mistake, creating a "beachhead" civilization that is ecologically unsustainable.