Hart has degrees in English literature and creative writing and is a copyeditor and published writer. In this essay, she examines the dramatic and literary elements used in Reisner's book to determine why so many reviewers refer to the novel-like quality of Reisner's nonfiction writing.

From the first chapter to the last, Marc Reisner pulls his readers into his extensive and thought-provoking research on the exploits and consequences of water depletion in the West in his classic environmental treatise Cadillac Desert. His pulling is done subtlety, like any great storyteller. Reisner involves his readers so completely that most won't notice his techniques. They may only note that the thick book, which is packed with historical, economical, and statistical facts, is one of the easiest nonfiction books to read. It is engaging, suspenseful, and even comical. But Reisner never loses his focus. He is an environmentalist concerned...