Coal and Empire: The Birth of Energy Security in Industrial America

by Peter A. Shulman

Overview

By exploring how the security dimensions of energy were not intrinsically linked to a particular source of power but rather to political choices about America's role in the world, Shulman ultimately suggests that contemporary global struggles over energy will never disappear, even if oil is someday displaced by alternative sources of power.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421417066
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2015
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Peter A. Shulman is an associate professor and the director of undergraduate studies for the Department of History at Case Western Reserve University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: In Which the President Seeks an Audience with the King 1

1 Empire and the Politics of Information 14

2 Engineering Economy 39

3 The Economy of Time and Space 67

4 The Slavery Solution 92

5 The Debate over Coaling Stations 125

6 Inventing Logistics 164

Conclusion: Energy and Security in Perspective 214

Chronological Listing of Cited Congressional Publications from the United States Serial Set 229

Notes 235

Bibliographic Essay 297

Index 305

What People are Saying About This

Richard F. Hirsh

Fast-paced, engaging, and accessible, Coal and Empire reveals how the extraction and use of coal was intertwined with domestic and international politics, economics and world trade, and innovations in science, mathematics, and technology. Historians of technology and energy will naturally appreciate the book, but the easy-to-digest writing style and broad analysis will also interest readers beyond academia. Shulman's book has wonderful potential to become a valued and well-read treatise.

From the Publisher

Fast-paced, engaging, and accessible, Coal and Empire reveals how the extraction and use of coal was intertwined with domestic and international politics, economics and world trade, and innovations in science, mathematics, and technology. Historians of technology and energy will naturally appreciate the book, but the easy-to-digest writing style and broad analysis will also interest readers beyond academia. Shulman's book has wonderful potential to become a valued and well-read treatise.
—Richard F. Hirsh, Virginia Tech, author of Power Loss: The Origins of Deregulation and Restructuring in the American Electric Utility System

Editorial Reviews

Enlightening reading for anyone interested in the politics and economics of energy.
—Choice

Exciting to read. It is the product of someone who is such a gifted writer.
—New Books Network

Peter Shulman’s excellent new book mines the pre-history of the relationship between ideas about energy extraction and the building of the United States as an imperial nation.
—Explorations in Federal History

A major contribution to foreign policy history and an essential read for any scholar interested in the development of policy and technology during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
—H-Net Reviews

In his exhaustively researched book, Shulman convincingly argues for the centrality of coal to nineteenth-century American domestic and foreign policy. His fast paced and wide-ranging work recounts a number of fascinating episodes central to nineteenth-century American history through the lens of energy needs.
—Diplomatic History

[Shulman's] rich text provides a vital contribution to our understanding of how resource exploitation—and hence science and technological change—was woven into the history of economics, international affairs, and domestic politics.
—Journal of American History

Coal and Empire offers an intellectual feast for both historians and modern energy scholars. Meticulously researched and expertly written, it attempts to show how an energy fuel, in this instance coal, became an integral part of United States national security in the nineteenth century.
—Technology and Culture

A forceful book—well-written, eye-opening, and analytically sharp. Coal and Empire is essential reading for anyone interested in the deep roots of the modern fossil economy.
—American Historical Review

Regardless of where you stand on the nineteenth-century US imperial question, the resources, technology, and politics behind expanding US interests have long needed the careful treatment Coal and Empire provides.
—Historical Geography

The book is an important one, and the histories of more quotidian commodities need more attention more generally. By using coal as a lens Shulman shows its integral place across US history and the development of its global role into the twentieth century.
—Mariner's Mirror

Innovative and important analyses of the specific role of engineers and technology in provoking changes in energy policies, and thus international relations . . . by delivering a detailed and accurate historical reconstruction of energy in nineteenth-century America, the book provides an interesting comparative case to present narratives about oil and energy security in the contemporary United States.
—AMBIX

Factpacked book of vital information.
—M.G. Paregian

Coal and Empire apporte ainsi une réflexion de long terme conduisant jusqu'aux rivages du temps présent. Ce n'est pas l'un des moindres attraits de ce livre stimulant.
—Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales [English edition]

While the book is an excellent stand-alone study of the American adoption of coal for naval, mercantile, and imperial gains, it also is a fascinating addition to the growing field of energy history. Readers searching for an in-depth examination of naval and government policy will find what they seek, but so too will those interested in broader American, environmental, and energy histories.
—Canadian Journal of History

From the Publisher

A major contribution to foreign policy history and an essential read for any scholar interested in the development of policy and technology during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

H-Net Reviews

Coal and Empire offers an intellectual feast for both historians and modern energy scholars. Meticulously researched and expertly written, it attempts to show how an energy fuel, in this instance coal, became an integral part of United States national security in the nineteenth century.

Technology and Culture

The book is an important one, and the histories of more quotidian commodities need more attention more generally. By using coal as a lens Shulman shows its integral place across US history and the development of its global role into the twentieth century.

Mariner's Mirror

Peter Shulman’s excellent new book mines the pre-history of the relationship between ideas about energy extraction and the building of the United States as an imperial nation.

Explorations in Federal History

Enlightening reading for anyone interested in the politics and economics of energy.

Choice

Regardless of where you stand on the nineteenth-century US imperial question, the resources, technology, and politics behind expanding US interests have long needed the careful treatment Coal and Empire provides.

Historical Geography

In his exhaustively researched book, Shulman convincingly argues for the centrality of coal to nineteenth-century American domestic and foreign policy. His fast paced and wide-ranging work recounts a number of fascinating episodes central to nineteenth-century American history through the lens of energy needs.

Diplomatic History

[Shulman's] rich text provides a vital contribution to our understanding of how resource exploitation—and hence science and technological change—was woven into the history of economics, international affairs, and domestic politics.

Journal of American History

Innovative and important analyses of the specific role of engineers and technology in provoking changes in energy policies, and thus international relations . . . by delivering a detailed and accurate historical reconstruction of energy in nineteenth-century America, the book provides an interesting comparative case to present narratives about oil and energy security in the contemporary United States.

AMBIX

"While the book is an excellent stand-alone study of the American adoption of coal for naval, mercantile, and imperial gains, it also is a fascinating addition to the growing field of energy history. Readers searching for an in-depth examination of naval and government policy will find what they seek, but so too will those interested in broader American, environmental, and energy histories."

Canadian Journal of History - Erin Spinney

"Exciting to read. It is the product of someone who is such a gifted writer."

New Books in Science

While the book is an excellent stand-alone study of the American adoption of coal for naval, mercantile, and imperial gains, it also is a fascinating addition to the growing field of energy history. Readers searching for an in-depth examination of naval and government policy will find what they seek, but so too will those interested in broader American, environmental, and energy histories.

Canadian Journal of History

Coal and Empire apporte ainsi une réflexion de long terme conduisant jusqu'aux rivages du temps présent. Ce n'est pas l'un des moindres attraits de ce livre stimulant.

Sciences Sociales [English edition] Annales. Histoire

A forceful book—well-written, eye-opening, and analytically sharp. Coal and Empire is essential reading for anyone interested in the deep roots of the modern fossil economy.

American Historical Review

Exciting to read. It is the product of someone who is such a gifted writer.

New Books Network

Factpacked book of vital information.

M.G. Paregian

"The book is an important one, and the histories of more quotidian commodities need more attention more generally. By using coal as a lens Shulman shows its integral place across US history and the development of its global role into the twentieth century."

Mariner'sMirror