Internal Combustion: a book by Edwin Black

Ed Note—In his previous blog post, I failed to properly introduce Jim.  He is a NARP Vice President and board member since 1983.  He is a salesman for Cadillac, but strongly supports preservation and expansion of passenger rail.  Quoting from the September 2000 NARP News, “The 1970’s oil crises stimulated his interest in rail; he bought his first Metroliner ticket when odd-even gas purchases were instituted. A short ride to Baltimore led to familiarity with a broad range of rail issues, and travel on trains in 27 countries.”—DRJ

A few weeks ago, in a sort of ironic twist, I was delivering our largest SUV and, being an XM radio fan, happened upon a show featuring one Edwin Black touting his new book, Internal Combustion: How Corporations and Governments Addicted the World to Oil and Derailed the Alternatives.
In the show, Black referred to a history that even rail and energy policy watchers often miss—the story of National City Lines and the dismantling of electric railways in America.

In his book, he superbly defines the history of energy, politics and the unfortunate historical realities of greed and exclusion that so ignominiously has come to describe the human condition. I really never recognized the value of wood as energy power and its place in the world’s energy and politics. (I do remember some Tolstoy reference to the family fortune of some trees in The Brothers Karamatsov, but the point did not register with me).

Black tells of the historic relationship between ownership and/or “mis-stewardship” of energy throughout history in ways I, and I would think most people, simply have never comprehended.

I highly recommend this book to rail advocates and think it might be a worthy item as a holiday treat to rail advocates and those of us who have come to understand the impacts of public policy.

Jim Churchill
NARP Vice President
Written and sent to the NARP office while traveling at 125 mph on board Acela Express #2255