Crude Reality: Petroleum in World HistoryThis concise, accessible introduction to the history of oil tells the story of how petroleum shaped human life since it was first discovered leaking inconspicuously from the soil. Leading environmental history specialist Brian C. Black connects the subsequent exploitation of petroleum to patterns in world history while tracing the intricate links between energy and people after 1850. 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 of 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. This “crude reality” becomes tragic when we measure our overwhelming reliance on this geological ooze. Considering the nature of oil itself as well as the specifics of humans’ remarkable relationship with it, Crude Reality reveals our modern conundrum and then suggests the challenges of our future without oil. It is this essential context, the author argues, that will prepare us for our energy transition. Black brings to this book a global perspective and a wide-ranging technical knowledge presented specifically for general readers, making its scope much broader than any other survey. Written by a major scholar on the history of petroleum, it is an essential contribution to environmental history and the rapidly emerging field of energy history. |
Contents
Prologue | 1 |
Introduction Beginning as Black Goo | 5 |
Part I CULTURAL EXCHANGE 17501890 | 15 |
Chapter One From Black Goo to Black Gold | 19 |
Chapter Two Crossing Borders to Increase Supply | 43 |
Chapter Three Modeling Big Oil | 67 |
Part II GOING MOBILE 18901960 | 95 |
Chapter Four Hitting the Road | 99 |
Chapter Seven To Have and Have Not | 183 |
Part IV LIVING WITH LIMITS AND ENERGY TRANSITIONS 1980PRESENT | 209 |
Chapter Eight Peak Oil Climate Change and Petroleum under Siege | 213 |
Time for an Oil Change? | 237 |
Chronology of Petroleum in World History | 241 |
Chronology of Spills | 247 |
Notes | 251 |
| 263 | |
Supply and Weapons | 125 |
Part III THE GLOBALIZATION OF PETROLEUM DOMINANCE 1960PRESENT | 151 |
Chapter Six Consuming Cultures | 155 |
About the Author | 277 |
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addition American auto automobile Baku barrels became began Big Oil Black 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 Galicia gasoline global Gulf Historian human important increased infrastructure innovations internal combustion engine Iraq kerosene leaders manufacturers Middle East military needed Nigeria oil companies oil development oil fields oil industry oil supplies 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 supply of crude tankers Texas tion trucks twentieth century twenty-first century United whale World War II writes Yergin York