Audio only
Water to the Angels
William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los AngelesBy Les StandifordNarrated by Robert FassLength9h 11m
About this audiobook
The author of Last Train to Paradise tells the story of the largest public water project ever created—William Mulholland’s Los Angeles aqueduct—a story of Gilded Age ambition, hubris, greed, and one determined man who's vision shaped the future and continues to impact us today.
In 1907, Irish immigrant William Mulholland conceived and built one of the greatest civil engineering feats in history: the aqueduct that carried water 223 miles from the Sierra Nevada mountains to Los Angeles—allowing this small, resource-challenged desert city to grow into a modern global metropolis. Drawing on new research, Les Standiford vividly captures the larger-then-life engineer and the breathtaking scope of his six-year, $23 million project that would transform a region, a state, and a nation at the dawn of its greatest century.
With energy and colorful detail, Water to the Angels brings to life the personalities, politics, and power—including bribery, deception, force, and bicoastal financial warfare—behind this dramatic event. At a time when the importance of water is being recognized as never before—considered by many experts to be the essential resource of the twenty-first century—Water to the Angels brings into focus the vigor of a fabled era, the might of a larger than life individual, and the scale of a priceless construction project, and sheds critical light on a past that offers insights for our future.
Water to the Angels includes 8 pages of photographs.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.0 (1.4K)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing, StoryGraph
GenreHistory, Biography and Memoir, Science and Nature
Length9 hrs 11 mins
Narrated byRobert Fass
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateMar 31, 2015
LanguageEnglish
More from Les Standiford
The Redeemer’s ReturnArthur W. Pink13h 18m4.7 (589)$20
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)Howard Irving Chapelle, Tappan Adney13h 9m4.8 (150)$1.99 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m4.6 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h4.6 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
Saving My EnemyBob Welch9h 11m4.6 (2.3K)$20
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
The Red Record (Annotated)Ida B. Wells-Barnett5h 19m4.8 (102)$1.99 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m4.6 (159.1K)$15
EnduranceAlfred Lansing6h 1m4.6 (40.8K)$20
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m4.6 (678)$29 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m4.6 (809)$28 · $0.00
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m4.7 (2.8K)$24 · $0.00
Send MeMarty Skovlund, Joe Kent8h 10m4.7 (1.6K)$26 · $0.00
Left for DeadEbony Canion5h 34m4.7 (2.2K)$17
John Muir: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth & Letters to a Friend (Annotated)John Muir10h 13m4.7 (1.1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m4.7 (3.2K)$24 · $0.00
Forever BoyKate Swenson9h 27m4.7 (5K)$29 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m4.7 (4.8K)$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
A Bridge Not Too FarDeepak Ohri4h 55m4.8 (179)$15
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m4.6 (9.3K)$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m4.6 (256.4K)$29 · $0.00
Scandal Between the Sheets & Stranded with the Tempting StrangerBrenda Jackson9h 22m4.8 (141)$24 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m4.7 (384)$20 · $0.00
The Boys and MeMark Miller8h 32m4.8 (218)$23
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m4.6 (6.5K)$26 · $0.00
LiftoffEric Berger9h 4m4.6 (9.5K)$29 · $0.00
Distant SkiesMelissa A. Priblo Chapman12h 39m4.7 (379)$23
ApolloCharles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox18h 15m4.6 (3.9K)$30
The Story of BirdsSteve Brusatte11h 49m4.6 (401)$29 · $0.00
Black Earth WisdomLeah Penniman11h 54m4.6 (577)$8 · $0.00
Crystals for BeginnersKaren Frazier3h 49m4.5 (45.6K)$20
What If? 10th Anniversary EditionRandall Munroe7h 29m4.5 (41.4K)$23
Total Cat MojoJackson Galaxy10h 13m4.5 (8.4K)$23 · $0.00
Earth at NightNational Aeronautics and Space Administration2h 26m4.7 (196)$1 · $0.00
My Life Among the UnderdogsTia Torres5h 51m4.5 (4K)$24 · $0.00
What It Takes to Save a LifeKwane Stewart6h4.6 (556)$24 · $0.00
Pastoral SongJames Rebanks8h 35m4.5 (12K)$26 · $0.00
How Stella Learned to TalkChristina Hunger7h4.5 (10.9K)$24 · $0.00
Craig & FredCraig Grossi8h 6m4.5 (9.6K)$26 · $0.00
Celebrating BirdsNatalia Rojas, Ana Maria Martinez6h 47m4.6 (330)$24 · $0.00
WildingIsabella Tree12h 22m4.5 (13.4K)$23
Saving JemimaJulie Zickefoose4h 59m4.5 (749)$20 · $0.00
The Complete Dog Training, Care, & Health GuideDr. Olivia Grace7h 22m4.8 (44)$10 · $0.00
Hot Cowgirl Sh*tLacie Evans2h 15m4.7 (103)$15
We Are the Middle of ForeverDahr Jamail, Stan Rushworth13h 39m4.5 (799)$23
You may also like
Race to the PoleSir Ranulph Fiennes16h 20m4.4 (2.1K)$25 · $0.00
Shōgun, Part OneJames Clavell24h 19m4.6 (19.7K)$35
EndeavourPeter Moore19h 36m4.1 (1.1K)$25
The Return of George WashingtonEdward J. Larson11h 7m4.2 (3.3K)$29 · $0.00
The Life of Captain Matthew FlindersSir Ernest Scott12h 40m3.6 (27)$2 · $0.00
A Voyage to the South Sea (Autobiography)William Bligh9h 54m4.0 (533)$2 · $0.00
Good Newes from New EnglandEdward Winslow4h 21m3.9 (75)$2 · $0.00
Great African Travellers: From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley (Annotated)William Henry Giles Kingston16h 34m4.1 (74)$1.99 · $0.00
Horizon’s WestOld Time Radio6h 40m$25
The Jesuits, 1534-1921 (Annotated)Thomas J. Campbell23h 42m4.3 (37)$1.99 · $0.00
The Explorations of Père MarquetteJim Kjelgaard3h 22m4.0 (351)$1 · $0.00
Letters of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible SocietyGeorge Borrow14h 2m$2 · $0.00
The Yellowstone National Park: Historical and DescriptiveHiram Martin Chittenden11h 39m4.2 (217)$1 · $0.00
Mission to MadagascarDavid Mould8h 38m4.6 (10)$15 · $0.00
The Life of Matthew FlindersSir Ernest Scott15h 34m3.6 (27)$2 · $0.00
A Voyage to Terra Australis (Annotated)Matthew Flinders38h 46m4.2 (225)$2 · $0.00
My Attainment of the PoleFrederick Albert Cook16h 38m3.9 (29)$1 · $0.00
The Winning of the West, Vol. 4Theodore Roosevelt9h 12m4.2 (156)$23
Père Marquette. Priest, Pioneer and AdventurerAgnes Repplier7h 5m3.6 (10)$2 · $0.00
How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon (Annotated)Oliver W. Nixon7h 44m$2 · $0.00