Energy and the Making of Modern California (Series on Technology and the Environment)

In Energy and the Making of Modern California, James C. Williams has written the definitive history of energy development and use in the Golden State. From the fuel wood that warmed its early settlers to the nuclear power plants that run the air-conditioners of its citizens today, California has shaped itself by tapping available energy resources, in the process coming to learn the capacity and constraints of technology as it affects the environment. Always a land apart, California has also become an early model for the United States and other countries in its voracious consumption of energy and its enlightened concern for the natural world. With its rich diversity of resources and its comfortable climate, California has attracted a steady stream of immigrants. As the population increased, so did its appetite for energy. A variety of resources---coal and oil, wind and solar heat, the fall of waters swollen by snowmelt--- was harnessed to satisfy the growing needs of farmers and manufacturers and the ordinary inhabitants of small towns and sprawling cities. Technological progress in energy development was essential to the good life that drew people to California in the first place. But the exploitation of those natural resources also made many Californians more aware of their environment. Energy and the Making of Modern California illuminates the forces that formed the state's culture and economy through the interplay of technology, population growth, human values, and the environment. With impeccable scholarship and a vivid abundance of detail, James C. Williams shows how California's complex and versatile environment constantly challenged technological inventiveness, making the state's experience with energy a rich case study that clarifies our rising concerns about how we live with the earth we live on.