15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
[[File: 41w7ygCtVnL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg|thumbnail|left|300 PX|''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XB6QVT3/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B06XB6QVT3&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=36f2fc29bd01c77085dd27fa7254fe95 Make it Rain]'' by Kristine C. Harper]]
In the 19th and 20th Centuries, both the federal and state governments of the United States explored ways to control the weather. Initially these were not particularly serious, but by the Cold War the United States was looking for any advantage it could find over the Soviet Union and serious the efficacy of weather control. Professor Kristine C. Harper's new book, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XB6QVT3/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B06XB6QVT3&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=36f2fc29bd01c77085dd27fa7254fe95 Make It Rain: State Control of the Atmosphere in Twentieth-Century America]</i>, published by [http://www.press.uchicago.edu/index.html The University of Chicago Press] explores the bizarre and ridiculous history of state-funded attempts to control the weather.
Kristine Harper is currently an Associate Professor of History at Florida State University. In addition to <i>Make it Rain</i>, Professor Harper also wrote the definitive history of meteorology <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262517353/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0262517353&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=a600610f4135a3ed07d654cf017dd3a8 Weather by the Numbers: The Genesis of Modern Meteorology]</i>.
Here is our interview:
'''In an episode of White Rabbit Project, the hosts describe how in 1915 the city of San Diego hired rainmaker Charles Hatfield to end a drought. Needless to say, it went horribly wrong soon after Hatfield was hired when San Diego experienced the largest and deadliest flood in its history. Hatfield was fairly notorious and even inspired the Burt Lancaster movie “The Rainmaker.” When did the state and federal governments begin to see rainmakers, such as Hatfield, as legitimate options?'''
