In reading Venice: Tourist Maze and Venice Against the Sea, it seems to me that the symbiotic and oppositional relationships of Man and Nature intersect in Venice. As Keahey documents in the later book, The analytical power of society has been put to work, drawing scientists from halfway around the world to battle the sea. This, to save a city whose survival and prosperity were achieved in no small part because of its natural surroundings. The ephemeral lagoon provided an ever-changing barrier, impossible to know except by those who lived there, effectively ensuring Venetian control over the approach to the city. Perhaps the romanticism that draws hordes of tourists to the area has some of its origin in the founding and thriving of a city in such a precarious location.