When the Lights Went Out: A History of Blackouts in America

摘要

'Each blackout provides a snapshot of the electrical system and of social relationships...breaks in the flow of social time, and examining a series of them reveals much about the trajectory of history' (p. 3). So begins the latest book from noted electricity and technology historian David E. Nye. A book on technical failures could be very dry, focusing on the infrastructural details and scope of each blackout and assigning blame to appropriate utility and government entities. But this is not Nye's primary concern; instead, he offers dozens of vignettes illustrating the changing role of electric power in American life at the time of each major blackout. Alongside these archival expositions are brief discussions of films, songs, and other representations produced in response to each blackout.