Associate professor of History Robert Lifset published American Energy Cinema in April 2023, co-edited with Raechel Lutz and Sarah Stanford-McIntyre. Honors @ OU had the opportunity to chat with him about all the work that goes into a process like this, and the end result that is this amazing new book.
Q. Tell me about your new book.
American Energy Cinema explores the history of energy in the United States through the lens of Hollywood film. Each chapter explores a movie that provides insight into how Americans have thought about and interpreted how they produce and consume energy. The book is thematically divided into sections that explore disaster, nature, the West, morality and the state.
Q: What is the process and timeline for getting this published?
Eight years ago, I was teaching “Petroleum Cinema,” an Honors College summer course when I thought, “this class might make a good book.” After deciding to make it an edited volume, I recruited the other editors and contributors. Many of the chapters in this book first appeared as conference papers at several panels we organized at the American Society for Environmental History in 2019. We assembled a manuscript and placed it with an energy history series at West Virginia University Press. The book went through peer review before being published on April 1, 2023.
Q: What kind of research, work, and time goes into a book?
American Energy Cinema is an edited volume. This means that each chapter is written by a different author. I wrote one of the chapters and part of the introduction. The research involves watching the film several times, learning about its production history, and thinking about and researching what this film reveals about the moment of its creation. As historians we are seeking to contextualize these films; to explore how these films reflect ideas and events current at the time of their production. After collecting the chapters from different authors, I along with my co-editors read the contributions and returned them to the authors with comments. After receiving revised chapters, we shepherded the manuscript through the publication process. The entire process took about five years.
Q: How does the topic of this book relate to your work as a professor at OU?
American Energy Cinema is a cultural history of American energy. It complements my scholarship which to date has focused on the political, policy, and business history of energy.
Q: How do you decide what subject is worth pursuing? For example, when does the research go from an article, or monograph to a full book?
While there is a growing scholarship exploring the cultural history of energy, no one has written a broader cultural history of energy with film as its primary source. That’s always a consideration: has anyone done this before? Is it new? Will it find an audience? I was also encouraged by colleagues who wanted to contribute chapters to the book. This persuaded me that the book was a good idea.
Q: Where can people find the book?
The best place to order the book is online at West Virginia University Press:
Or Amazon amazon.com or Barnes & Noble barnesandnoble.com
