| Book Review | Environmental History, 11.1

Book Review

BOOK REVIEW EDITOR'S NOTE

ED RUSSELL BEGAN a series of notes on the book review process when he became the book review editor. Over the past four years, Ed has worked to demystify the process and develop a system for managing reviews. Even though I had served as H-Environment's book review editor for several years, I had to learn a new system—and Ed made the transition much smoother by writing a manual on the process. I cannot praise his labors nor thank him enough. There are others behind the lines who deserve accolades as well. Eve Munson, our managing editor, established and efficiently maintains a database of books, reviewers, and deadlines, while Carol Marochak at the Forest History Society helps with sending out guidelines and other chores.

As Ed pointed out four years ago, the editorship appears simple, but the phenomenal growth of the field and accompanying literature makes the job much more challenging. In terms of logistics, I am currently expanding our book review guidelines to include a style sheet, which will make it easier for reviewers to standardize their reviews.

As we move toward the World Environmental History Conference in 2009, I believe that it is increasingly important to expand the geographical diversity of reviews, and we are working on including more reviews from around the world. In addition, I would like to expand this section to include reviews of film and other media, such as environmental history websites. These changes simply reflect the growth and vibrancy of the environmental history field in North America and worldwide.

MELISSA WIEDENFELD

Jimmy Carter and the Energy Crisis of the 1970s. The "Crisis of Confidence" Speech of July 15, 1979: A Brief History with Documents. By Daniel Horowitz. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2005. xix+ 203 pp. Notes, selected bibliography, index. $13.95 paper.
At the last few environmental history meetings, many ASEH members chatted about how to fit energy issues and concerns into our teaching. Obviously, between rising gas prices, rationale for war in the Middle East, and the nascent consideration of alternative fuels, students today already have dimensions of our energy situation on their collective mind. With a little historical context and background, our students will lead our nation toward informed energy decisions in the future. Daniel Horowitz's unique book, Jimmy Carter and the Energy Crisis of the 1970s, offers an excellent classroom tool to provide undergraduates with the recent historical context that informs the politics and technology of our current energy conundrum.	1
Organized similarly to other books in the New Bedford Series in History and Culture, Jimmy Carter and the Energy Crisis of the 1970s is a collection of documents that begins with a thoughtful introduction that situates President Jimmy Carter in the intellectual history of the 1970s. Horowitz writes well for an undergraduate audience and provides sufficient historical context to make this brief book an excellent text to consider for use in historical survey courses. His description of the nation's energy situation lacks depth, but sufficiently fleshes out the 1970s energy shortage to create the foundation for Carter's action. Through this introduction, Horowitz's book is transformed into an in-depth case study of presidential action. A good instructor will be able to draw severe contrast and comparison between Carter's reaction to this difficult energy situation and those policy decisions made by the administration of President George W. Bush. Of course, this would also make a terrific writing assignment for students.	2
The rest of the text emphasizes primary documents as they relate to his July 1979 speech regarding his efforts to develop a national energy plan. Horowitz points out, however, that these efforts began in 1977, shortly after Carter had taken office, when the president introduced the plan by declaring the "moral equivalent of war" on energy waste. The book then contains the entire transcript of the 1979 "malaise" speech, in which Carter entered terrain embattled from pro-development and pro-environment sectors.	3
During his years as president, Carter wrestled with the intrinsic issues related to energy and its management arguably more than any other American leader. These documents, including speeches, presidential notes, Christopher Lasch's 1979 essay, "The Culture of Narcissism," numerous inter-White House office memos debating energy issues, and journalistic, political, and public responses to the 1979 speech portray a vexed leader attempting to seize a historical moment and to steer the nation in the most intelligent direction for future energy supplies. In short, this issue and this volume present a remarkable portrayal of American leadership. But, of course, the political outcome did not match Carter's vision.	4
The portrayal of this overlooked and little-appreciated historical moment makes Horowitz's book a wonderful text to include in twentieth-century history surveys. The overall point relates to the environment, but the book is not overtly about environmentalism. This text makes energy in the 1970s a superb case study of the difficulties of balancing the culture of consumption with a growing environmental ethic. In environmental history and environmental studies courses, Jimmy Carter and the Energy Crisis of the 1970s offers an absolutely critical opportunity to consider the political implications of issues that continue today. Often, students assume that no previous president has considered the issue of energy—and, certainly, that no leader could resist the influence of "Big Oil." Horowitz shows us that at least one leader gave energy policy serious thought—publicly and privately—and that he attempted to steer the nation toward a future of energy conservation and independence.	5
For undergraduates who learn primarily that Carter botched one of the Unites State's first experiences with foreign terrorism, Horowitz's emphasis on energy policy rescues a critical portion of Carter's legacy. From a vantage point thirty years later, we now see the prescience of much of Carter's idealistic views on energy. In a risky political move, Carter attempted to steer Americans down a path less trodden—in fact, a path requiring severe difficulty and radical social and cultural transition. It was a lonely argument. Horowitz's account suggests that had Carter's visionary path been followed, the United States may have led the world into what now seems to be an inevitable energy transition.	6
Brian Black teaches history and environmental studies at Pennsylvania State University, Altoona, and is the author of Petrolia: The Landscape of America's First Oil Boom (Johns Hopkins, 2000). Currently in the final stages of preparing a book on the Gettysburg Battlefield, Black is gearing up for more research and writing on petroleum in American life.

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