Powerline: The First Battle of America’s Energy War

by Paul Wellstone, Barry M. Casper, Tom Harkin (Foreword by)

Welston's second book, the story of a planned powerline from the coal fields of North Dakota to the Twin Cities and the protests it brought out.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

336 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1981

About the author

Paul David Wellstone was a two-term U.S. Senator from the state of Minnesota and member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which is affiliated with the national Democratic Party. Before being elected to the Senate in 1990, he was a professor of political science at Carleton College. Wellstone was a liberal and a leading spokesman for the liberal wing of the national Democratic Party. He served in the Senate from 1991 until his death in a plane crash on 25 October 2002, 11 days before the US senate election in which he was running for a third term. His wife, Sheila, and daughter, Marcia, also died in the crash. They had two other grown children, David and Mark, who now co-chair the Wellstone Action nonprofit group.

Reviews

[Emilee Gooch · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5; I’ve wanted to read this book for a while and ended up being assigned to read it this semester. Well-told story that I’m glad I finally know more about!

[Darel Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book as it relates perspective of a different time in the power industry and the social and political things in play.

The utility routed the line without engaging the public very well at all and had a revolt from the farmers whose land they crossed. The farmers simply didn’t want the line on their properties and went to any extent to prevent it, including vandalism once the line went into construction.

Interesting to me as this occurred in an area where in working on similar projects.

Really good history for folks in my industry.

[Caitlin Quinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely a very informative bit of writing. Highly in-depth retelling of an important point in US power and Minnesota history. Rural citizens fight for a say in what happens on their property, up against not only the government but also the governments priority of large/wealthy corporations insights over that of the majority. The author’s writing was professional and conversational which I applaud. The journalistic side of me loved this book for its interviews and thorough research. However, I did get tired of the continued repetitive introductions of events, people, and laws that had already been introduced in prior chapters. Made an already dense read more difficult to lock in on.

[Soph Nova · Rating 5 out of 5]

This account of a deeply-rooted protest against a high voltage transmission line shows the complex nature of what we will need to grapple with when building a new world, and the long histories of where our movements have come from (and I appreciate the book’s mix of technical detail, oral history, and historical narrative to accomplish that).

“Well, I think there are some people who are gonna quit fighting, but I don’t think they should quit fighting, because there isn’t gonna be no farmland if you let these big corporations take over.”

[David Savage · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly insightful story which, despite taking place almost 50 years ago, contains valuable lessons for the energy nerds of the 2020s about the relationship between infrastructure development and rural America. Wellstone is a great writer, who gets really useful insights and anecdotes out of the people he interviews.

A must-read.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. I lived on a dairy farm in the heart of the power struggle and the book is very accurate and insightful.

[Carrie La Seur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wellstone being Wellstone, always brilliant, and a primer on fighting the good fight, losing, and fighting some more.