Crude Reality: Petroleum in World HistoryThis concise, accessible introduction to the history of oil tells the story of how petroleum has shaped human life since it was first discovered oozing inconspicuously from the soil. 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 in 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. Considering the nature of oil itself as well as humans’ remarkable relationship with it, Brian C. Black spotlights our modern conundrum and then explores the challenges of our future without oil. It is this essential context, he argues, that will prepare us for our energy transition. Bringing his global perspective and wide-ranging technical knowledge, Black has written an essential contribution to environmental history and the rapidly emerging field of energy history in this sweeping, forward-looking survey. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 5 | |
Cultural Exchange 17501890 | 15 |
Going Mobile 18901960 | 95 |
The Globalization of Petroleum Dominance 1960Present | 151 |
Living with Limits and Energy Transitions 1980Present | 209 |
Resource Curse | 241 |
Chronology of Petroleum in World History | 245 |
Chronology of Spills | 251 |
Notes | 255 |
| 267 | |
| 277 | |
About the Author | 293 |
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addition American auto automobile Baku barrels became began Big Oil boom British cars China climate change coal commodity Congress Prints consumers consumption corporate created crude oil culture of petroleum decades developed nations drilling early earth’s ecology of oil economic efforts Electric Vehicle emerged energy transition environmental expanded Ford fossil fuels gasoline global grew Gulf Historian human important increased infrastructure innovations internal combustion engine Iraq kerosene leaders manufacturers military oil companies oil development oil fields oil industry oil supplies oil’s OPEC organization particularly peak oil Pennsylvania percent personal transportation petroleum supplies Photographs Division pipeline plastic political Prints and Photographs region reserves resource revolution Rockefeller Royal Dutch/Shell rule of capture Russian oil Saudi Arabia ships spill Spindletop Standard Oil strategic supplies of crude tankers Texas tion trucks twentieth century twenty-first century United whale World War II Yergin York