1.

Record Nr.

UNISA996424647103316

Autore

LISCANO, Juan <1915-2001>

Titolo

Lecturas de poetas y poesía / Juan Liscano

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Caracas, : Academia nacional de la historia, 1985

ISBN

980-220-030-2

Descrizione fisica

382 p. ; 20 cm

Collana

El libro menor ; 79

Disciplina

861

Collocazione

VI.7.B. 1126

Lingua di pubblicazione

Spagnolo

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

2.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910954293503321

Autore

French Dan (Historian)

Titolo

When they hid the fire : a history of electricity and invisible energy in America / / Daniel French

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : , : University of Pittsburgh Press, , 2017

©2017

ISBN

9780822981930

0822981939

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (263 pages)

Collana

Intersections: environment, science, technology

Disciplina

333.79320973

333.7932

Soggetti

Electric utilities - United States - History

History

United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Issued as part of book collections on Project MUSE.



Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (pages 204-230) and index.

Nota di contenuto

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.

Sommario/riassunto

When They Hid the Fire examines the American social perceptions of electricity as an energy technology that were adopted between the mid-nineteenth and early decades of the twentieth centuries. Arguing that both technical and cultural factors played a role, Daniel French shows how electricity became an invisible and abstract form of energy in American society. As technological advancements allowed for an increasing physical distance between power generation and power consumption, the commodity of electricity became consciously detached from the environmentally destructive fire and coal that produced it. This development, along with cultural forces, led the public to define electricity as mysterious, utopian, and an alternative to nearby fire-based energy sources. With its adoption occurring simultaneously with Progressivism and consumerism, electricity use was encouraged and seen as an integral part of improvement and modernity, leading Americans to culturally construct electricity as unlimited and environmentally inconsequential--a newfound "basic right" of life in the United States.