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The trickle of books about Middle Eastern water conflicts is turning to a flood. Water in a desert is the heart of nationhood. And the revised, softback edition of Water and Power: The Politics of a Scarce Resource in the Jordan River Basin by Miriam Lowi (Cambridge University Press, £16.95/$19.95 pbk, ISBN 0 521 55836 0) describes with brutal force Israel’s current hydrological hegemony. Good too for its historical focus, its references and its maps – vital for comprehending the complex disputes between the basin’s five nations.