I am pleased to offer readers a free essay based on my new book,
The Great Energy Transition: America from 1876 to 1929
This piece makes sense on its own, but it is only a fragment of the larger argument.
The download is
https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/american-progress-was-an-optical-illusion/
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What does American history look like if we focus less on elections and short-term issues and instead focus on energy systems during what the French annals school called the longue durée? Instead of many short eras between 1876 and 1929, one sees a massive energy transition. Every job, business, house, and public space underwent a transformation so radical that Americans could not grasp the larger pattern. The concepts of "technology" and an "energy transition" had yet to emerge. Observers struggled in a sematic void, attributing new experiences to "kaleidoscopic change" and "the machine." The Great Energy Transition explains this transformation, the failure to grasp it, and the still persisting consequences.
paperback, 334 pages, MIT Press, 2026
"A magisterial analysis of technological and social whirwinds that still sway everyday life, this is the rare book that takes on major issues and does so well. This is a truly milestone book."
– John Stilgoe, Harvard University
"With this book, the reader is in the hands of a master historian. Nye reminds us that energy transitions are a long game, and the kaleidoscopic era·1876 to 1929–echoes today."
– Julie A. Cohn, Rice University
