"Cynthia Barnett's "Rain" begins four billion years ago with the torrents that filled the oceans, and builds to the storms of climate change. It weaves together science--the true shape of a raindrop, the mysteries of frog and fish rains--with the human story of our ambition to control rain, from ancient rain dances to the 2,203 miles of levees that attempt to straitjacket the Mississippi River ... As climate change upends rainfall patterns and unleashes increasingly severe storms and drought, Barnett shows rain to be a unifying force in a fractured world."--Jacket.

Origins --Elemental rain. -- Cloudy with a chance of civilization ; -- Drought, deluge, and devilry ; -- Praying for rain -- Chance of rain. -- The weather watchers ; -- The articles of rain -- American rain. -- Founding forecaster ; -- Rain follows the plow ; -- The rainmakers -- Capturing the rain. -- Writers on the storm ; -- The scent of rain ; -- City rains -- Mercurial rain. -- Strange rain ; -- And the forecast calls for change -- Waiting for rain.