Because of its location, volume, speed, and propensity for severe flooding, the Rhone, France's most powerful river, has long influenced the economy, politics, and transportation networks of Europe. Humans have tried to control the Rhone for over two thousand years, but large-scale development did not occur until the twentieth century. The Rhone valley has undergone especially dramatic changes since World War II. Hydroelectric plants, nuclear reactors, and industrialized agriculture radically altered the river, as they simultaneously fueled both the physical and symbolic reconstruction of...