American Oasis:

Finding the Future in the Cities of the Southwest

Out now from Pantheon

An expansive and revelatory historical exploration of the multicultural, water-seeking, land-destroying settlement of the most arid corner of North America, arguing that in order to know where the United States is going in the era of mass migration and climate crisis we must understand where the Southwest has already been

Albuquerque. Phoenix. Tucson. El Paso. Las Vegas. Iconic American cities of glass and steel surrounded by desert and rust. Decadent metropolises that seem to exist independently of the hostile landscape that surrounds them, belying the rich insight they offer into American stories of migration, industry, bloodshed, and rebirth.

Acclaimed journalist Kyle Paoletta charts a geographic and historical path through America's uncompromising deserts, mapping the past and future of these cities and the other beachheads of civilization — from rural pueblos to sprawling exurbs — that make up the region known as “the American Southwest.” Weaving together the stories of immigrants and indigenous populations, American Oasis pulls back layers of settlement, sediment, habit, and effect that successive empires have left on the region, from the O’odham, Diné, Tewa, Apache, and Comanche, to the Spanish, Mexican, and, finally, American.

As Paoletta’s journey into the Southwest’s history becomes inextricably linked to an exploration of its dependency on water, he begins to ask: where, ultimately, will cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix find themselves once the Colorado River and its branches dry up? What, ultimately, will become of the entire nation if we don’t look back in order to see ahead? Richly reported and sweeping in its history, American Oasis is the story of what one dynamic region’s past can tell us about our shared future.

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Advance Praise

“Kyle Paoletta has written a phenomenal book. AMERICAN OASIS is much more than a sweeping and brilliant account of the Southwest. It’s essential reading about our past, present, and—if we have one—future.”

— Andy Borowitz, New York Times bestselling author of Profiles in Ignorance

“American Oasis helps us to understand our hotter, tougher future by showing us how people and civilizations have both thrived (and collapsed) in the desert Southwest over the last thousand years. With booming development, stressed natural resources and a quickly changing climate, Paoletta’s deep research and irrepressible personal passion describes a way forward in tune with what has come before.”

— Beto O'Rourke

“What a wonder this book is! Paoletta’s curiosity and learning run deep as the Vishnu schist, while his empathy and understanding extend out to the far horizon. Paoletta’s deep thinking about the American West—across red mesas, scant waters and improbable cities—is as essential as it is companionable.”

— Rivka Galchen, New Yorker staff writer and author of Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch

“In American Oasis, Kyle Paoletta, a discerning son of the Southwest, takes us back to the future—that is, to the hotter, drier, crispier future the whole nation can expect if current trends continue. A richly reported work of history and contemporary travelogue that tells the epic and at times fantastical story of five sun-scorched metropolises that, having risen mirage-like from the desert, might give us insights into how our urban civilization might survive—even thrive.”

— Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author of The Wide, Wide Sea

“In this shimmering and revelatory book, Kyle Paoletta bridges the deep history and future of the Southwest, and somehow connects it all, movingly, to our larger American story. I couldn’t put it down.”

— Ross Andersen, The Atlantic staff writer

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“Paoletta understands that we underestimate and segregate the Southwest at our peril. No part of the country is immune from drought or reckless development, which is to say that the Southwest’s critics are often committing an epic feat of projection. The region is not America’s weird cousin but its starkest mirror. And, if we’re willing to see it clearly, a source for solutions.”

— The Washington Post

Reviews

“[A] sweeping debut. . . . Paoletta smartly synthesizes the concerns of the writers, laborers, and others he interviews. . . . The evidence plainly backs his conclusion that the Southwest needs to increase resource conservation and other ‘communal’ practices.”

— Kirkus

“The chapter on Las Vegas is itself a small masterpiece that should be read by anyone seeking to understand a city that seems to defy comprehension.... He wanders the city in search of stories, which he renders in exquisite detail.”

— The Los Angeles Times

“Peppered with fascinating historical tidbits gleaned as Paoletta traverses the region and encounters colorful characters. . . . An enjoyable and immersive travelogue.”

— Publishers Weekly

“Understanding Phoenix, Las Vegas and the whole Desert Southwest is essential to understanding the 21st century United States, argues journalist Kyle Paoletta in his sprawling, ambitious, deeply researched book”

— the San Francisco Chronicle

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