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When They Hid the Fire : A History of Electricity and Invisible Energy in America.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Intersections SeriesPublisher: PIttsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017Copyright date: ©2016Edition: 1st edDescription: 1 online resource (263 pages)Content type:
  • text
Media type:
  • computer
Carrier type:
  • online resource
ISBN:
  • 9780822981930
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Additional physical formats: Print version:: When They Hid the FireDDC classification:
  • 333.7932
LOC classification:
  • HD9685
Online resources:
Contents:
Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. English Roots, Utopia Found and Lost -- 2. The Energy Revolution and the Ascendancy of Coal -- 3. The Conundrum of Smoke and Visible Energy -- 4. Technology and Energy in the Abstract -- 5. Of Fluids, Fields, and Wizards -- 6. Energy, Utopia, and the American Mind -- 7. Turbines, Coal, and Convenience -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Index.
Summary: Daniel French examines the American social perceptions of electricity as an energy technology between the mid-19th and early decades of the 20th centuries. Arguing that both technical and cultural factors played a role, French shows how electricity became an invisible and abstract form of energy in American society, leading Americans to culturally construct electricity as unlimited and environmentally inconsequential--a newfound "basic right" of life in the United States.
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Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. English Roots, Utopia Found and Lost -- 2. The Energy Revolution and the Ascendancy of Coal -- 3. The Conundrum of Smoke and Visible Energy -- 4. Technology and Energy in the Abstract -- 5. Of Fluids, Fields, and Wizards -- 6. Energy, Utopia, and the American Mind -- 7. Turbines, Coal, and Convenience -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Index.

Daniel French examines the American social perceptions of electricity as an energy technology between the mid-19th and early decades of the 20th centuries. Arguing that both technical and cultural factors played a role, French shows how electricity became an invisible and abstract form of energy in American society, leading Americans to culturally construct electricity as unlimited and environmentally inconsequential--a newfound "basic right" of life in the United States.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.

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