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.

Trish Kahle is a historian of energy, work, and politics at Georgetown University Qatar and coleads the Energy Humanities Research Initiative at the Center for International and Regional Studies.

Natasha Zaretsky, author of Radiation Nation: Three Mile Island and the Political Transformation of the 1970s:
The American Century was powered by coal. In this meticulously researched and beautifully written book, Kahle places coal miners at the center of twentieth century citizenship. Their industrial and political labors shaped modern liberalism, even as the bodily risks they incurred on the job revealed the fragility of American democracy. A brilliant study that reveals the entwinement of citizenship and energy while providing the backstory to the enduring symbolic role of the miner in contemporary politics.

Victor Seow, author of Carbon Technocracy:
With analytical rigor and moral courage, Kahle recasts the history of the modern United States by placing coal miners at its center. This book shows how miners fueled the industrial nation and, in fighting for rights and protections amid workplace violence, shaped what it meant to be a citizen within it. The result is a powerful account of the contradictions between energy and democracy in America’s coal-fired century.

Christopher F. Jones, author of Routes of Power: Energy and Modern America:
Energy Citizenship is an exciting book that offers an innovative look at the study of energy and politics. Kahle convincingly demonstrates that coal workers not only provided the fuel that enabled America to become a superpower but also made vital democratic contributions that reshaped the nation’s political landscape. It is a timely book relevant to those interested in American politics, energy, and a just transition away from fossil fuels.

Dominic Boyer, author of No More Fossils:
A marvelous study of coal’s role in fueling the possibilities and limits of modern democratic citizenship. Kahle shows that while coal helped generate new magnitudes of material prosperity, it ultimately failed in its promise to deliver democratic equality. We must learn from coal’s mistakes in our current energy transition.