not contradict one another; they livedwithin him" (p. 327). The reader is thewinner when two such skillful biographers cover the same ground but with varying depth and emphasis. Foley displays his expertise on earlyMissouri poli tics in evaluating Clark as a veteran politician who never won an election, and both authors splendidly describe the rewarding,demanding, and frequently tragicaspects ofClark's personal lifeas a son,brother,husband, and father. There are surprisingly fewdisagreements in thesebi ographies and few factual errors in either one. (Marais Castor? Beaver Pond? is thecorrect name of Clark's estate, not Marias Castor, as found inFoley's text). Both authors adhere to themost accepted, "safest" interpretations of controversial is sues? such as the date of Sacagawea's death (1812 over 1884), the tribal affiliation of the Indians who attacked Lewis's party in July1806 (Blackfeet instead of theAtsina), whether Clark fathered Indian children (mentioned, not pur sued), and the rumored suicide of Lewis (fully accepted). By implyingcertitude and consensus, when recenthistoriography reflectsdoubt and debate on these issues, the authors do a disser vice to serious readers by not mentioning the persistent, and sometimes persuasive, alternative judgments of other historians. One would have hoped foramore critical evaluation of Lewis's controversial death, since the apparent callous ness ofhis dearest friend infailing to investigate or at least to retrievethebody forproper Chris tian/Masonic burial implies a serious character flaw inClark. It took nearly two centuries for the govern ment to grant William Clark his long-deferred captain's commission, but these excellent biog raphieswill make it impossible to slighthim in the future.The significantachievements of his full lifeand complete careermerit an elevated statureand individual recognition separatefrom theLewis-and-Clark partnership. Water and American Government: The Reclamation Bureau, National Water Policy, and the West, 1902-1935 ByDonald J. Pisani University of California Press, Berkeley, 2002. Photographs, notes, index. 408 pages. $49.95 cloth. Reviewed byDorothy Zeisler-Vralsted University of Wisconsin, La Crosse A THOROUGHAND EXHAUSTIVEWORK,Water and American Government is the second volume inDonald Pisani's planned multivol ume history of water in theAmerican West. Although the title implies a broad treatmentof water, Pisani mainly focuses on the history of federal reclamation policy.His thesischallenges the prevailing belief that theReclamation Act of 1902 signaled a shifttowardmodernization. Instead, Pisani argues that federal reclamation activitiesfrom 1902 to 1935reflecteda continu ation of nineteenth-century American ideals and concerns. For Pisani, theReclamation Act was not forward-looking but driven by fears about the country's future,especially after the turbulent 1890s. Pisani's research is impressive.He draws on numerous archival resources, including several record groups from theNational Archives and, of course, the records of the Bureau of Recla mation. His discussion of federal reclamation policy begins by placing themovement for Reviews 321 federal reclamation within the national con text. He considers many reclamation boosters' claims that federal reclamation legislation would offerhomes and a rural lifestyleto those living inovercrowded cities.The ideas of three major spokesmen for the reclamation move ment?William Smythe,George Maxwell, and FrederickNewell? demonstrate thateach saw thepotential of federal reclamation forhome building. Ultimately, however, their initiatives were not successful,and reclamation legislation produced verydifferentresults. In Pisani's recounting of the implementa tion of theNewlands or Reclamation Act, he exposes myriad problems that plagued the fledgling Reclamation Service. To students of western history, most of the stories are familiar, describing how Reclamation Service engineers failed to evaluate soil compatibility in newly constructed irrigation projects, thus doom ingmany projects to immediate failure.Other obstacles to success were the internal politics among federal agencies, such as theAgriculture Department's criticism of the Reclamation Service, ledby the well-respected Elwood Mead, and water rights conflictswithin states. Still, Pisani's extensive research uncovers unknown details about and insights into theearlyyears of theReclamation Service.Afterviewing the rec lamation movement from a national perspec tive,Pisani examines the effectsof irrigation projects on two separate Idaho communities, one federally funded and the other a private undertaking. These case studies bolster Pisani's thesis that reclamation projects were attractive because investment in the land ensured a stabil itythatcontrastedwith theeconomic instability of the 1890s. In viewing reclamation's early years, Pisani also discusses the leadership of the Reclama tion...