Les Standiford is the bestselling author of more than twenty books and novels, including the John Deal mystery series, and the works of narrative history The Man Who Invented Christmas (a New York Times Editor’s Choice) and Last Train to Paradise. He is the director of the creative writing program at Florida International University. In Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles (Ecco), Les Standiford tells the story of the largest public water project ever created—William Mulholland’s Los Angeles aqueduct. 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-than-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. At a time when the importance of water is being recognized as never before, Water to the Angels sheds critical light on a past that offers insights for our future.
