Glaser challenges history museums and historic sites to flip the narrative of technology as progress. Instead, she poses, let’s reinterpret existing collections and places to ask provocative questions about the production, transmission, and consumption of energy in America as it evolved from a preindustrial society to a highly industrialized and consumption-driven nation? She rightly asserts that adapting to human-induced climate change will require significant cultural shifts in addition to redirecting policy decisions and economic imperatives. To meet this challenge, Glaser provides curators and interpreters with an excellent guide to the historical scholarship and a wealth of case studies that reveal new ways to interrogate the past as we all grope to understand the magnitude of environmental problems before us.

Rebecca Conard, professor of history emerita, Middle Tennessee State University, past president, National Council on Public History, coeditor, Parks Stewardship Forum

This timely, important book is a model for new sustainable public history. This insightful and gracefully written study demonstrates the urgent need for thoughtful context in support of interpretation of energy at museums and historic sites. Glasser deploys decades of research at the intersections of environmental and public history toward a new framework for historical interpretation of energy from steam to green.

Andrew Kirk, Professor of History, Department Chair, Department of History, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

What a unique addition to the Interpreting History series. While energy is central to life, few—if any—existing studies connect energy themes to actual museum exhibits to educate our intellect and senses. Leah Glaser has set a path to several routes of useful inquiry about the history of energy.

Martin V. Melosi, cullen professor emeritus, University of Houston