Brian C. Black, Ph. D
Head, Division of Arts and Humanities
Distinguished Professor of History and Environmental Studies
Penn State Altoona
Unrestricted by borders, technology, or discipline, the Energy and Society book series seeks to provide a space for the unfettered expansion of the discourse on the human relationship with energy: from the processes of developing fuels to the policies governing them; from the consumers who require energy to the governments that administer and seek it; and from the very way we define the idea of energy to promising frontiers of the future. Books in the series may be organized as specific case studies; however, they will each strive to confront larger issues and concepts in the complex, ongoing relationship between energy and society.
Feeding off the development of the environmental humanities and the recognition of the Anthropocene epoch in Earth’s history, the editor and editorial board seek book-length manuscripts that cross national borders as well as boundaries of our understanding of energy in human life. These manuscripts can include more traditional histories of business, politics, policy, environment, labor, technology, diplomacy, and culture, but the series editorial team also encourages submission of work engaged with philosophy, the arts, and the social sciences.
Editorial Advisory Board:
Ann Greene, History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania
Amy Hessl, Geography, West Virginia University
Robert Johnson, History and Social Science, National University of San Diego
Martin Melosi, Center for Public History, University of Houston
David Nye, History, University of Southern Denmark
Martin J. Pasqualetti, Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University
Myrna Santiago, History, St Mary’s College, California
Peter Shulman, History, Case Western Reserve
Imre Szeman, Cultural Studies and English, Film Studies, and Sociology, University of Alberta
Authors interested in submitting proposals for consideration should contact Brian Black at bcb4@psu.edu or Derek Krissoff at derek.krissoff@mail.wvu.edu
Book Series:
Energy and Society
Gettysburg Contested
Ever since the American Revolution, sacred sites that represented key events in American history were crucial to the young nation's efforts to formalize its story. Gettysburg Contested traces these patterns back to the well-known field of battle of July 1-3, 1863, earning for it a new and lasting legacy as sacred ground that remains today, 150 years later. Never before has the battlefield's story been told so completely, offering layer upon layer, story upon story, to great effect. Gettysburg becomes a springboard to understanding more fully the nation's need for sacred symbols---and cherished landscapes---of America's past. In Gettysburg Contested, America’s treasured battlefield becomes the great laboratory for how Americans preserve and honor the past. Like America itself, the story continues to unfold right before our eyes.
Publication Date: November 13, 2017 | ISBN-10: 1938086120 | ISBN-13: 978-1938086120
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Crude Reality
This concise, accessible introduction to the history of oil tells the story of how petroleum shaped human life since it was first discovered leaking inconspicuously from the soil. The book connects the subsequent exploitation of petroleum to patterns in world history while tracing the intricate links between energy and people after 1850. For a century, human dependence on petroleum caused little discomfort as we enjoyed the heyday of cheap crude—a glorious episode of energy gluttony that was destined to end. Today, we see the disastrous results of environmental degradation, political instability, and world economic disparity in the waning years of a petroleum-powered civilization—lessons rooted in the finite nature of oil. This “crude reality” becomes tragic when we measure our overwhelming reliance on this geological ooze.
Publication Date: March 22, 2012 | ISBN-10: 0742556549 | ISBN-13: 978-0742556546
Nature's Entrepot
In Nature’s Entrepôt, the contributors view the planning, expansion, and sustainability of the urban environment of Philadelphia from its inception to the present. The chapters explore the history of the city, its natural resources, and the early naturalists who would influence future environmental policy. They then follow Philadelphia’s growing struggles with disease, sanitation, pollution, sewerage, transportation, population growth and decline, and other byproducts of urban expansion. Later chapters examine efforts in the modern era to preserve animal populations, self-sustaining food supplies, functional landscapes and urban planning, and environmental activism.
Philadelphia’s place as an early seat of government and major American metropolis has been well documented by leading historians. Now, Nature’s Entrepôt looks particularly to the human impact on this unique urban environment, examining its long history of industrial and infrastructure development, policy changes, environmental consciousness, and sustainability efforts that would come to influence not just this region but also the nation.
Publication Date: November 16, 2012 | ISBN-10: 0822944170 | ISBN-13: 978-0822944171
Climate Change:
An Encyclopedia of Science and History
Climate change is a controversial topic that promises to reframe rudimentary ideas about our world and how we will live in it. The articles in Climate Change: An Encyclopedia of Science and History are designed to inform readers' decision making through the insight of scholars from around the world, each of whom brings a unique approach to this topic. The work goes beyond pure science to consider other important factors, weighing the cultural, historical, and policy-driven contributors to this issue. In addition, the book explores the ideas that have converged and evolved in order to clarify our current predicament.
By considering climate change in this holistic fashion, this reference collection will prepare readers to consider the issue from every angle. Each article in the work is suitable for general readers, particularly students in high school and college, and is intended to inform and educate anyone about climate change, providing valuable information regarding the stages of mitigation and adaptation that are occurring all around us.
Publication Date: January 8, 2013 | ISBN-10: 1598847619 | ISBN-13: 978-1598847611
Alternative Energy
As this book makes clear, civilization cannot long continue to ride on an oil slick. Worldwide, many people have come to see dependence on coal, and especially on oil, not only as unsustainable, but as profoundly destabilizing, both environmentally and politically. While ever-increasing demands continue to be placed on "mainstream" energy sources, recurring attempts have been made to generate power in "alternative" ways.
After retracing some of these efforts, this succinct and historically informed volume explores the ongoing debate over alternative energy that gathered strength in the 20th century, showing how that debate mirrors larger attitudes toward energy and consumption. Like other volumes in this series, Alternative Energy is designed to provide material for student reports and debate arguments. It is an outstanding sourcebook for those interested in investigating the problems and prospects of alternative fuels.
Publication Date: February 26, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0313344841 | ISBN-13: 978-0313344848
Global Warming
Global Warming takes one of the hot-button issues of our time and surveys it in historical context, creating an intellectual portrait of the multi-century shifts in thinking that have led to gradual acceptance of the concept. The book summarizes pertinent aspects of geology, earth science, and climate science in easy-to-read terms. It then frames this background in terms of cultural and social shifts, including the Industrial Revolution, conspicuous consumption, and modern environmentalism. In addition, a study of the ebb and flow of cultural and political reception relates the issue to religious and social ideas.
The information presented here will enable the reader to understand the scientific case stating that human activity has caused an unprecedented warming in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Technical and political objections to this thesis are also covered, so that readers may form their own opinions on this critical subject.
Publication Date: June 2, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0313345228 | ISBN-13: 978-0313345227
Great Debates in American Environmental History
Students today are often confronted with alarms and concerns over the state of the environment. Global warming, biodiversity, genetically engineered food - disputes over such topics are a constant refrain. But to best understand these contemporary debates, students need to understand the long history of these environmental concerns. Great Debates in American Environmental History examines over 200 of the most important and controversial environmental issues in the history of the United States, conveniently organizing them in chronological order from the Colonial period to the present. Each entry describes the issue, the stakeholders of various positions, and both the immediate outcome of the debate, and the long-term consequences of the result.
Publication Date: May 30, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0313339309 | ISBN-13: 978-0313339301
Nature and the Environment in Nineteenth-Century American Life
The nineteenth-century saw a significant transformation in the United States. In one short century, the nation had seen the populating of the Great Plains and West, the decimation of native Indian tribes, the growth of national transportation and communication networks, and the rise of major cities. The century also witnessed the destruction of the nation's forests, battles over land and water, and the ascent of agribusiness. With these changes in resource use patterns and values came a concordant shift in attitudes toward nature. Conservation and preservation emerged as watchwords for the 1900s. The century that started with an attitude of environmental conquest thus ended by embracing conservation and a new environmental awareness.
Publication Date: April 30, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0313332010 | ISBN-13: 978-0313332012
Nature and the Environment in Twentieth-Century American Life
Americans during the twentieth-century became more disconnected from the environment and nature than ever before. More Americans lived in cities rather than on farms; they became ever more reliant on technology to interact with the world around them and with each other. Perhaps paradoxically, the twentieth-century also became the period in which environmental issues played an ever-increasing role in politics and public policy. Why is this so? Perhaps because, despite what many people believe, nature and the environment remains central to everyone's daily life. Pollution, environmental degradation, urban sprawl, loss of wildlife and biodiversity - all of these issues directly impact how everyone - even city dwellers - live their lives.
Publication Date: May 30, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0313332002 | ISBN-13: 978-0313332005
Petrolia:
The Landscape of America's First Oil Boom
In Petrolia, Brian Black offers a geographical and social history of a region that was not only the site of America's first oil boom but was also the world's largest oil producer between 1859 and 1873. Against the background of the growing demand for petroleum throughout and immediately following the Civil War, Black describes Oil Creek Valley's descent into environmental hell. Known as "Petrolia," the region charged the popular imagination with its nearly overnight transition from agriculture to industry. But so unrestrained were these early efforts at oil drilling, Black writes, that "the landscape came to be viewed only as an instrument out of which one could extract crude." In a very short time, Petrolia was a ruined place—environmentally, economically, and to some extent even culturally. Black gives historical detail and analysis to account for this transformation.
Publication Date: October 21, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0801877326 | ISBN-13: 978-0801877322
America at War!:
Battles That Turned the Tide
A look at U.S. involvement in conflict at home and abroad examines eleven battles--including the Battle of Saratoga, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Battle of Midway, and others--showing how America's involvement affected their outcomes.
Publication Date: December 1992 | ISBN-10: 0590455052 | ISBN-13: 978-0590455053
