Historian and author Les Standiford discusses his book, Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles at the Ponte Vedra Library’s Book Talk Café program on Monday, November 14 at 6:30 p.m.

William Mulholland was an Irish immigrant who never finished high school, let alone set foot in an engineering class, yet he designed a metropolitan water system that’s still in use today. Standiford captures the life of the man responsible for making the LA of today possible—for better or worse—and who, after the personal triumph of completing the Aqueduct, was later forced to resign when a dam he had been responsible for constructing collapsed and the resulting flood killed nearly 500 people.

Book Talk Café is presented by the Friends of the Ponte Vedra Library, and is free and open to the public. The author’s books will be available for sale, and light refreshments served.