The world was born in water and will die fighting for it. So claims Steven Solomon in his recent book titled Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization (2010). Water, he argues, is indisputably a major catalyst of world history. The revolutionizing power of water is what civilizations as old as Egypt have in common with James Watt, one of the geniuses of modernity, whose steam engine essentially kicked off the industrial revolution. Even colonialism has water to thank for the miracle of its expansion.

But as the world nears the moment when it must confront the question of depleting resources and exploding population, fossil fuel would have to leave the center stage for the scramble over water, which Solomon claims, “is set to shape a new turning point in the world order and the destiny of civilization.” Solomon wants to argue that water is responsible for terrorism in the mid-east, China’s uncertain expansion, the West’s undying dream of world domination, and the stagnation of third-world economies. This polyvalence of water in the politics and destiny of the world is a bit over-stressed and is, perhaps, the weakest point of Mr. Solomon’s otherwise accessible and fairly entertaining book.