VIA  ZOOM  Sunday, July 30th at 8:00 p.m. ET

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

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

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

The fascinating history of how coal-based energy became entangled with American security.

Since the early twentieth century, Americans have associated oil with national security. From World War I to American involvement in the Middle East, this connection has seemed a self-evident truth. But, as Peter A. Shulman argues, Americans had to learn to think about the geopolitics of energy in terms of security, and they did so beginning in the nineteenth century: the age of coal.

Coal and Empire insightfully weaves together pivotal moments in the history of science and technology by linking coal and steam to the realms of foreign relations, navy logistics, and American politics. Long before oil, coal allowed Americans to rethink the place of the United States in the world.

Review:
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

Zoom participants will be eligible to win a copy of Coal and Empire