Energy Citizenship: Coal and Democracy in the American Century

Winner, 2025 Merle Curti Social History Award, Organization of American Historians

Finalist, 2025 Hagley Prize in Business History, Business History Conference

The history of the modern United States is the history of coal—and of coal miners. Trish Kahle reveals miners as forgers of a coal-fired social contract that was contested throughout the twentieth century as Americans sought to define the meaning of citizenship in an energy-intensive democracy.

Energy Citizenship traces the uncertain re...