Electric Wind - by Marianna Dudley

About the Book

Electric wind offers an innovative history of modern Britain, told through the pursuit of wind energy.

Book Synopsis

From the Back Cover

There are turbines on the horizon. The blades whirl with metronomic rhythm. With each rotation, wind is transformed into electricity. An energy revolution is underway.

Electric wind rewinds to the beginning to explore the rise of wind energy in modern Britain. From the industrial revolution to the aftermath of war, through energy crisis and the changing politics of the late twentieth century, we see how energy has shaped a nation - and how a nation is reflected and refracted through energy. Boldly charting Britain through its wildest, windiest places, this book takes us to the edges of land and beyond to think deeply about the role of nature in politics, science and technology. Visionaries and hippies join engineers and entrepreneurs. Traditions and local cultures meet infrastructure and industry in this captivating history.

At a time when action on carbon emissions is urgent, Electric wind offers examples, ideas and stories to fuel change going forwards. This book is an essential read for anyone interested in nature, climate change, landscape and the making of modern Britain.

Review Quotes

'Electric wind is an engaging history of energy and the politics of place in modern Britain. Marianna Dudley seamlessly moves between the miniscule and the planetary, traversing at the same time the boundaries between the academic, the humorous and the lyrical.'
Katja Bruisch, Energy Historian and author of Burning Swamps

'Electric wind is a wonderful contribution on a critical and contradictory industry in constant transformation. Dudley moves discussion away from the technological fixation of so much of the wind energy literature, and towards an historical account that lets the workers and scientists, the communities of remote areas, and not least the wind itself speak to their active roles in shaping that history.'
Luke Neal, PhD researcher at the Centre for Decent Work (Sheffield University) and Aura CDT on Offshore Wind Energy and Environment

About the Author