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Wind Energy in America
A History
Published by: University of Oklahoma Press
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press
384 Pages | 6 x 9 | 22 b&w illus.
$29.95
This compelling saga recounts the human effort to capture the power of the wind for electricity--from the first European windmills, to nineteenth century experiments in rural electrification, to the immense wind farms in California and the plains states that feed power grid today.
Environmental historian Robert W. Righter describes eccentric inventors and techinical innovations, analyzes the politics of the power industry, past and present, and demonstrates that individuals and small businesses have made the greatest contributions to wind-energy development. Wind Energy in America also focuses on contemporary developments, including U.S. government research and regulation and the international race for dominance in the wind-turbine business. Righter explores the arguments of people and organizations opposed to the spread of wind generators--often the same environmental groups, paradoxically, that hailed wind energy as a savior in the late 1970s.
This abundantly illustrated history, free of ideology and cant, will be of lasting interest to environmentalists, scholars, and all readers alert to the need for alternatives to coal and oil.
Robert W. Righter is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Texas at El Paso and the author of several books on the history of environmentalism and conservation, including The Battle over Hetch Hetchy: American's Most Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern Environmentalism.
Forthcoming Events

Book Signing with Connie Cronley at Best of Books
Saturday. May 21, 2022 | 2:00 pm
Best of Books 1313 East Danforth Rd. Kickingbird Square Edmond, OK 73034
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Jill Hunting in Conversation with Mike Everhart at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History
Thursday. June 16, 2022 | 6:00 pm
Sternberg Museum of Natural History 3000 Sternberg Dr. Hays, KS 67601
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Meet Jill Hunting at Flint Hills Books
Saturday. June 18, 2022 | 1:30 pm
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Author Talk with Jill Hunting at Full Circle Books
Tuesday. June 21, 2022 | 6:00 pm
Full Circle Books 50 Penn Place 1900 NW Expressway, Oklahoma City, OK 73118
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