MW 8-10am 213 Wheeler

Energy: An American History

Instructor: Robert Chester
Semester: Summer Sessions D
Email: rchester@berkeley.edu
Office: 3118 Dwinelle
Consultation Hours: Tuesdays, 10:15-12:15


Course Description: This course will examine how the predominant sources of energy and how
the uses of those different types of energy changed over time and across American geographies.
We will start by analyzing the diets of hunter-gatherer societies, as well as the domestication of
fire, plants, and animals. We will explore the origins and consequences of the dam building
frenzy in the first half of the twentieth century, the expansion of the fossil fuel economy, and the
social history of electricity and automobiles and their impacts on consumer culture. We will also
analyze the ways that WWII and the Cold War created the context for the development of
nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants and the controversies and legacies these industries
have generated. Finally, we will examine how increased consumption of energies helped
contribute to the rise of current controversies over fracking, climate change, and renewable
energy projects.

Required Texts
-Richard White, The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia River, (Hill and Wang,
1996), ISBN-13: 978-0809015832
-Christopher F. Jones, Routes of Power: Energy and Modern America, (Harvard University
Press, 2014), ISBN-13: 978-0674728899
-Bspace (Course Website)

Optional Text
-Alfred W. Crosby, Children of the Sun: A History of Humanitys Unappeasable Appetite for
Energy, (W.W. Norton & Company, 2007), ISBN-13: 978-0393931532

Course Requirements
Attendance/Participation/Quizzes: 20%
Research Project: 30%
Final Exam (Bluebook Essay Format): 50%


Research Project: Students must research a particular topic in the history of energy and provide
a corresponding PowerPoint that demonstrates how they would present this material to a
prospective audience interested in the subject they explore. This assignment is designed to be
short and the research should not consume an inordinate amount of time. Each student must use a
minimum of five primary sources and three secondary sources that they find on their own. All
students must also draw upon at least one assigned reading and at least one lecture to situate their
research in the broader framework of the course to explore how the concepts and themes we
examine help illuminate their project. Students must submit a preliminary bibliography via email
for this research project no later than Friday, July 18. Students must also submit a hardcopy of
this bibliography at the beginning class on Monday, July 21. In your bibliography your
secondary sources must include a minimum of one book (monograph) and two scholarly articles
from peer-reviewed journals. It is recommended but not required that you rely upon newspapers
and magazines for your primary sources, but you may draw on a much wider range of sources if
you so choose. On the first day of class the instructor will provide more instructions for the
annotated bibliography and the PowerPoint. The instructor will provide a sample PowerPoint
that will be available on bspcace by Monday, July 14.

Discussions of Assigned Readings: Beginning in the second week, we will reserve 20-30
minutes on Mondays for a discussion of the assigned readings.

Current Issues in Energy Discussions: During the last 30 minutes of class on Tuesdays (except
the last day of class when the final exam will be administered) we will hold a discussion that
explores various issues relating to the world of energy. Each student must sign up for a date to
talk for one minute about current issues in the world of energy. Every student must submit a
summary paragraph of the issues and a list of works cited that includes a minimum of two
separate newspaper or magazine articles. Once each student has presented their
summary/analysis of articles, we will engage in an open discussion of what has been presented.
The instructor will circulate a sign-up sheet on the first day of class to allow students to commit
to a certain date. Although students may present updates on issues discussed earlier, they must
attempt to provide original materials that focus on a distinct aspect of an earlier topic or
complicate or challenge what other students presented in earlier discussions. The instructor will
provide an example on the first day of class.

Final Exam: The exam will be cumulative and will combine multiple choice questions, short-
essay identifications, and one longer essay question addressing a pre-circulated prompt. The
long-essay question will require students to analyze core themes and topics covered in the
course.


Week I (Assigned Reading: Crosby, Children of the Sun, pp.xiii-58, White, The Organic
Machine, pp.ix-29, and Jones, Routes of Power, pp.1-21)
Monday, July 7: 1) Concepts & Themes 2) Solar Energy, Fire & Photosynthesis

Wednesday, July 9: 1) Diets, Energy & Agriculture in Indigenous America
2) The Columbian Exchange 3) Current Issues Discussion


Week II (Assigned Reading: Crosby, Children of the Sun, pp.59-84, Jones, Routes of Power,
pp.23-87, and Excerpt from Andrews, Killing for Coal, bspace)

Monday, July 14: 1) ID Quiz 2) Discussion of White & Crosby
3) Wood, Water & Whale Oil

Wednesday, July 16: 1) Canals, Coal & Transportation Revolutions 2) Current Issues Discussion


Week III (Assigned Reading: Crosby, Children of the Sun, pp.85-116, Jones, Routes of Power,
pp.89-226)
Monday, July 21: 1) From Open Range to Feedlot 2) The Burdens & Benefits of Coal
3) Discussion of Jones & Andrews (Hardcopy of Preliminary Bibliography Due)
Wednesday, July 23: 1) Oil, Illumination & the Growth of the Petroleum Industry
2) Current Issues Discussion



Week IV (Assigned Reading: Crosby, Children of the Sun, pp.116-126, White, The Organic
Machine, pp.30-113)

Monday, July 28: 1) Electrification & the Era of Edison 2) Automobiles, Abundance &
Gasoline Taxes 3) Discussion of Jones (Hardcopy of Annotated Bibliography Due)


Wednesday, July 30: 1) Quiz 2) Suburbs, Freeways & Oil Autocracies
3) Current Issues Discussion


Week V (Assigned Reading: Excerpt from Yergin, The Prize, and Essays from special issue of
Journal of American History, Oil in American History, (bspace), and Crosby, Children of the
Sun, pp.127-166)
Monday, August 4: 1) Hydraulic Societies 2) The Manhattan Project
3) Discussion of Jones, White & Readings on Oil

Wednesday, August 6: 1) The Atomic Age 2) Industrial Pollution & Climate Change
3) Current Issues Discussion (Power Point Due via email)


Week VI (Assigned Reading: Excerpt from Michael Pollan, The Omnivores Dilemma, Hinton,
essay on the origins of Hydraulic Fracturing & Natural Gas Industry, and excerpt from Walker,
Three Mile Island, (bspace))

Monday, August 11: 1) Industrial Food 2) Renewables
3) Discussion of Pollan, Walker, and Hinton 4) Review

Wednesday, August 13: Final Exam


(The Instructor Reserves the Right to Modify this Syllabus.)