Energy in North American Environmental History

Brian C. Black is Distinguished Professor of History and Environmental Studies at Penn State Altoona. Recognized as a global expert on energy and petroleum history, he is the author of more than a dozen books, which include Petrolia: The Landscape of America's First Oil Boom, Crude Reality: Petroleum in World History, and To Have and Have Not: Energy in World History. He is also the founding editor of the Energy and Society book series with West Virginia University Press. His writing on energy has appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, The Conversation, The National Interest, and The New York Times. Most recently, his book Ike’s Road Trip: How Eisenhower’s 1919 Convoy Paved the Way for the Roads We Travel appeared in 2024.

• Introduction PART I: SIMPLE EXCHANGES: PRIME MOVERS AND HISTORY 1. Hunting Defines Early Human Life throughout North America 2. Tenochtitlan Agriculture Manages Limited Water 3. Wind Powers the Varied Economic Advancement of Mercantilism on the Atlantic 4. Lowell, Massachusetts Models a Water-Powered Future 5. Erie Canal Organizes Early Commerce through New York PART II: MINING SUNRAYS FROM THE PAST: COAL AND INDUSTRIALIZATION 6. Advancing Coal Mining in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania 7. Using Coal to Span the Continent with Rails at Promonotory Point, Utah 8. Binding Industry into Iron and Steel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 9. Industrializing Meat in Chicago, Illinois and the West 10. Spindletop, Texas Unleashes Massive Supplies of Petroleum PART III: EXPANSIVE POWER ALTERS HUMAN LIFE 11. Turning on Toronto, Canada with Hydroelectric Power 12. America's 1919 Convoy: A Catalyst for Energy Transition Spans the U.S 13. Re-wiring Human Culture with Electricity at Coney Island, New York 14. Levittown, New York Models Conspicuous Consumption 15. Petroleum Pursuit in Veracruz, Mexico Fuels Environmental Justice Disputes PART IV: WARRING FOR AND WITH ENERGY 16. Alberta's Hillcrest Colliery Disaster and Energy Expansion in World War I 17. World War II Establishes Critical Nature of Energy Infrastructure in American South 18. Developing Navajo Uranium in Arizona to Support the Nuclear Age 19. Glimpsing the Hydroelectric Future at the Border of Northwest U.S. and Canada Leads to Cooperation at the Border PART V: FACTORING SCARCITY AND EXTREME MEASURES WITH A NEW ENERGY ETHIC 20. A New Energy Future Emerges at the Choctaw Strategic Petroleum Reserve, LA and in ANWR 21. Spills in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska Galvanize Environmental Opposition 22. Alberta Tar Sands Spark Debate over Pipeline and Climate Change 23. Does Fracking for Natural Gas Boom Continue in Veracruz, Mexico? 24. Offshore Wind Harvests the Energy Future in Virginia Beach, Virginia—Maybe 25. Energy Transition Brings Options to Greensburg, Kansas Epilogue: Our Energy Transition