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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What word used in the book’s Introduction means allowing the maximum passage of light, as glass?
(a) Translucent.
(b) Irradiate.
(c) Pellucid.
(d) Reflective.

2. When was the revised and updated version of Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water published?
(a) 1999.
(b) 1993.
(c) 1979.
(d) 1985.

3. When was the Bayano Dam built?
(a) 1920.
(b) 1976.
(c) 1944.
(d) 1983.

4. In 1930, the American West had a population of how many people?
(a) 4 million.
(b) 18 million.
(c) 11 million.
(d) 7 million.

5. What western city does the author describe “with exotic palms and golf-course lawns and a five-hundred-foot fountain and an artificial surf” in the Introduction?
(a) Reno, Nevada.
(b) Phoenix, Arizona.
(c) Albuquerque, New Mexico.
(d) Bakersfield, California.

Short Answer Questions

1. When did Harrison Gray Otis move to Santa Barbara, California?

2. The first boom of travelers to Los Angeles culminated in what year, according to the author in Chapter Two?

3. In what year did Franklin D. Roosevelt take office as President of the United States?

4. When was John Wesley Powell born?

5. What region is located in southeastern Southern California, and is the site of an urban area largely centered on the city of El Centro?

Short Essay Questions

1. What initially led to the struggles over the Colorado River?

2. How have historians traditionally spent their focus in regard to the American West?

3. What awards has Marc Reisner earned for his environmental and writing work?

4. When did the perception of the American West as a desert begin to change? Who helped initiate this change?

5. How does the author describe the Colorado River in the beginning of Chapter Four?

6. Who was William Mulholland? Why did he come to Los Angeles?

7. What actions did Franklin D. Roosevelt take following the Dust Bowl in regard to water projects?

8. What reaction did the public and lawmakers have to the advice of John Wesley Powell regarding settlement in the West? What was the result?

9. Who was General John Wesley Powell? How does the author describe him?

10. Describe the author of the book. What relevant professional experience does Reisner have to ecology?

(see the answer keys)

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