Open Access Edition of "Make It Rain: State Control of the Atmosphere in Twentieth-Century America" by Kristine C. Harper

FAIN: DR-272612-20

University of Chicago (Chicago, IL 60637-5418)
Alan Thomas (Project Director: March 2020 to October 2022)

This project will publish the book "Make It Rain: State Control of the Atmosphere in Twentieth-Century America," written by Kristine C. Harper (NEH grant number FB-53252-07), in an electronic open access format under a Creative Commons license, making it available for free download and distribution. The author will be paid a royalty of at least $500 upon release of the open access ebook.

Associated Products

Single Publication (Open Access eBook or Collection)
Publication Type: Single Publication
Title: Make It Rain: State Control of the Atmosphere in Twentieth-Century America
Year: 2022
ISBN: 9780226437378
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Author: Kristine C. Harper
Editor: Timothy Mennel
Abstract: Weather control. Juxtaposing those two words is enough to raise eyebrows in a world where even the best weather models still fail to nail every forecast, and when the effects of climate change on sea level height, seasonal averages of weather phenomena, and biological behavior are being watched with interest by all, regardless of political or scientific persuasion. But between the late nineteenth century—when the United States first funded an attempt to “shock” rain out of clouds—and the late 1940s, rainmaking (as it had been known) became weather control. And then things got out of control. In Make It Rain, Kristine C. Harper tells the long and somewhat ludicrous history of state-funded attempts to manage, manipulate, and deploy the weather in America. Harper shows that governments from the federal to the local became helplessly captivated by the idea that weather control could promote agriculture, health, industrial output, and economic growth at home, or even be used as a military weapon and diplomatic tool abroad. Clear fog for landing aircraft? There’s a project for that. Gentle rain for strawberries? Let’s do it! Enhanced snowpacks for hydroelectric utilities? Check. The heyday of these weather control programs came during the Cold War, as the atmosphere came to be seen as something to be defended, weaponized, and manipulated. Yet Harper demonstrates that today there are clear implications for our attempts to solve the problems of climate change.
Primary URL: http://bibliopen.org/p/bopen/9780226437378
Primary URL Description: Bibliopen
Secondary URL: https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/63439
Secondary URL Description: OAPEN
Type: Single author monograph

Prizes

Louis J. Battan Author Award
Date: 1/7/2018
Organization: American Meteorology Society
Abstract: The Louis J. Battan Author's Award, Adult, is presented to the author(s) of an outstanding book on the atmospheric and related sciences of a technical or non-technical nature published within the last three years, with consideration to those books that foster public understanding of meteorology in adult audiences.

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