The Center of Southwest Studies welcomes award-winning author and journalist, Zak Podmore who will present on the history of the Bureau of Reclamation, a populist project that became central to the New Deal's public power programs in the 1930s. Drawing from his latest book, "Life After Dead Pool: Lake Powell's Last Days and the Rebirth of the Colorado River," Podmore will cover the controversial construction of the Glen Canyon Dam in the early 1960s before bringing the historical narrative up to the present moment.

Today, megadrought in the Southwest is not only a threat to the integrity of the Glen Canyon Dam, but it has also sparked a surprising, large-scale ecological recovery in Glen Canyon. By focusing on both the successes and failures of federal dam projects, Podmore will attempt to show how climate change and the Bureau of Reclamation's history in the Southwest "offer the opportunity for a more sustainable future" (New York Times Review of Books).