What You See in Clear Water: Indians, Whites, and a Battle Over Water in the American West

"O'Gara is a lyrical writer when sketching pictures of the land. He is fair and evenhanded in trying to explain a complex issue freighted with emotion. He lets his characters have their say, revealing the racism of some white ranchers, and the desperation that hangs like low fog in so many reservations. But this story is not well told. It goes back and forth in time, making the narrative difficult. O'Gara jumps between too many characters, never going deep enough with the main people in the story. In the end, the Indians are left with nothing but a certain moral high ground, and, as they say in the West, you can't eat the scenery."Geoffrey O'Gara is the author of 'What You See in Clear Water: Indians, Whites, and a Battle Over Water in the American West', published 2002 under ISBN 9780679735823 and ISBN 0679735828.