Energy in North American Environmental History

Taking North America as its focus, this book offers a comprehensive exploration of humanity’s evolving relationship with energy.As humans have sought to live and develop the North American continent, energy from Earth’s basic elements has served as the raw material for living. Through its chronological approach and critical case studies, the volume examines how the search for and harvest and use of energy have shaped human history, from colonial empire-building to contemporary debates on sustainability and climate change. By analyzing diverse energy sources, including sail power, coal, crude oil, wind, solar, electricity, and nuclear power, the book reveals how industrialization transformed energy consumption and demand, driving political, social, and environmental change. It connects energy history to major political and environmental themes, such as water politics, post-1990s Alberta pipeline debates, the war in Ukraine, and climate change, highlighting how energy has been both a unifying force and a source of division among diverse peoples, shaping global power dynamics and regional histories.Designed for students of environmental history and energy studies, this text synthesizes this important history whilst offering insights into the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century.

About the Author

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.