Power Play: The Fight to Control the World s Electricity - Hardcover

Beder, Sharon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 156584808X ISBN 13: 9781565848085

Publisher: The New Press, 2003

Synopsis

As electrification spread across America in the early twentieth century, private corporations moved quickly to reap unprecedented profits from millions of new paying customers. Blocking their path was the widespread view that electricity was a basic need and that its production should be regulated—if not owned outright—by the public. The electricity companies fought back, buying up newspapers, radio stations, and politicians, and flooding the schools with free, pro-industry schoolbooks. Their actions heralded the advent of corporate public relations, and form a major chapter in the history of the industry.

In an eye-opening investigation, Sharon Beder’s Power Play reveals the decades-long struggle to wrest control of electricity from public hands. Her analysis ranges from the machinations of American political power to grassroots struggles in South Asia aimed at stemming the environmental degradation caused by multinational energy providers. In so doing, she sets the stage for understanding the damage done by deregulation, the roots of the Enron scandal, and the contemporary debacle of electricity supply.

About this title

About the Author:

Sharon Beder is the author of numerous books, including Global Spin, Selling the Work Ethic, and The Nature of Sustainable Development. She is currently associate professor at the University of Wollongong, Australia.

About this edition

• Publisher: The New Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 156584808X
• ISBN 13: 9781565848085
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416