Dam It!: Electrifying America and Taming Her Waterways

As told in Underwood’s crisp narratives and enhanced by his unique personal remembrances, Dam It! offers a riveting account of how dams restructured our landscape, powered our country, and became symbols of Americans’ resourcefulness and mastery over nature. Underwood’s cast of characters includes Thomas Edison, J.P. Morgan, Nikola Tesla, George Westinghouse, Henry Ford, Samuel Insull, and his own grandfather, George P. Jessup, who was “a dam engineer and proud of it.” Along the way, Dam It! winds its way through natural and manmade disasters, wars, cutthroat politics, financial wheeling and dealing, and bitter power struggles. It immerses us in immense hydroelectric construction projects from coast to coast, where we witness astounding engineering and construction feats.