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The Electric City: Energy and the Growth of the Chicago Area, 1880-1930
No symbol of progress in our century is more galvanizing than electricity—electric power and the technology it has spawned. The "invisible world" of electric energy that was emerging at the turn of the century is one we take for granted, but its influence on the growth and quality of city life was, and remains, profound. Using Chicago as a test case, Harold L. Platt investigates the emergence of an urban-based, energy-intensive society over the course of half a century in this first book-length history of energy use in the city.
- GenresHistory
400 pages, Hardcover
First published April 9, 1991
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August 16, 2013
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the American historians at Loyola University put together a great run of books. Tim Gilfoyle's City of Eros may be the darling of the bunch and Lew Erenberg's Steppin' Out probably pushed the needle of historiography the most, but the best written, most engaging book from that time is Harold Platt's Electric City. It is a testament to Platt's skills as a writer that he could take a subject as seemingly banal as electricity and make it compelling.
What I think comes out most from Platt's work is his genuine love of history. If you've had the opportunity to talk to him about the discipline, you will come away with a great appreciation as to how much Dr. Platt cares about history. He once gave a famous tirade to a class of graduate students who were under performing, demanding that they "get on the bus" and take the study of history seriously.
That isn't to say it is all doom and gloom. Every conversation I had with Dr. Platt about every topic I ran through his office was met with genuine enthusiasm, knowledge, and that love of history.
OK, enough with the sunshine and rainbows; The Electric City examines how a city, in this case Chicago, engages with its energy structure, how that affects the structure of the city and the people living there. Like Cronin's work, Nature's Metropolis, it also examines the relationship of urban to rural and how the two are entwined, not just economically like Cronin, but also in terms of structure and function. The star of this book is Samuel Insull, who led the charge in making electricity the power source of the metropolis, making it simultaneously affordable and a mark of luxury.
As part of this push to a new energy, the workings of city government and its relationship with business develop into the system we are familiar with today, namely, business and a few private citizens are trusted to be stewards and make wise decisions on behalf of all residents. As we can see over the course of the last century, this system has met with decidedly mixed results.
What I think comes out most from Platt's work is his genuine love of history. If you've had the opportunity to talk to him about the discipline, you will come away with a great appreciation as to how much Dr. Platt cares about history. He once gave a famous tirade to a class of graduate students who were under performing, demanding that they "get on the bus" and take the study of history seriously.
That isn't to say it is all doom and gloom. Every conversation I had with Dr. Platt about every topic I ran through his office was met with genuine enthusiasm, knowledge, and that love of history.
OK, enough with the sunshine and rainbows; The Electric City examines how a city, in this case Chicago, engages with its energy structure, how that affects the structure of the city and the people living there. Like Cronin's work, Nature's Metropolis, it also examines the relationship of urban to rural and how the two are entwined, not just economically like Cronin, but also in terms of structure and function. The star of this book is Samuel Insull, who led the charge in making electricity the power source of the metropolis, making it simultaneously affordable and a mark of luxury.
As part of this push to a new energy, the workings of city government and its relationship with business develop into the system we are familiar with today, namely, business and a few private citizens are trusted to be stewards and make wise decisions on behalf of all residents. As we can see over the course of the last century, this system has met with decidedly mixed results.
Displaying 1 of 1 review