Internal Combustion: How Corporations and Governments Addicted the World to Oil and Derailed the Alternatives

A common thread throughout human history is the suspicion that the way the world is did not come about naturally as a result of countless choices by countless individuals; but instead was cobbled together via a series of hidden decisions made by those in power for the sake of expanding or preserving their power. In modern America, this line of thought is often denoted as "cospiracy theory". Beginning with the explosion of the USS Maine that began the Spanish-American War, continuuing thru the timing of Pearl Harbor, the JFK assasination, the Oklahoma City Bombing and then 9-11, historical evidence is annually produced which implies that elected officials often and purposefully makes decisions that are antithical to the national good. Often times these conspiracy theories are quickly debunked, but other times, a few key interviews, a fortunate bumbling and suddenly a mountain of evidence comes pouring out verifying the wildest suspicions. The most famous examples are the Watergate scandal, probably followed by Iran-Contra, and the legacies behind the Tucker and DeLorian cars. But maybe the most important "conspiracy theory" proven true is the one documented in this book by Edwin Black. Dr. Black and his coworkers literally combed through tons of documentation that show how the modern industrialized world has come to depend on oil. The book is written in chronological order, and the first half shows how previous societies were also built around the dependence on non-renewable fuels, such as coal, wood, peat bog, etc... These previous societies included the ancient Egyptians, the Victorian English, and various empires of ancient Mesopotamia. The second half of the book focuses on the period from 1880 to 1950, when critical decisions were made that destroyed both mass transit and the electric car industry in America, and replaced it with the system of freeways and gas automobiles. The key culprits included General Motors, Standard Oil and its children, and to a lesser extent, Yellow Cab, National City Lines, and various local, state, and nationally elected and appointed officials. Using all sorts of unsavory actions such as bribery, extortion, kickbacks, blackmail, front companies, and monopolistic practices, GM, Standard Oil and their corporate accomplices manipulated state and local authorities into giving up mass transit and adopting gas cars and freeways. Throughout the book, the author presents a whole multitude of referenced evidence to prove his point. Sources include court proceedings, interviews, newspaper articles, publications in peer-reviewed journals, business contracts, legislative records, etc... And along the way, the author highlights critical moments when history could have been changed, when America could have stepped away from oil and pursued other sources. The final two chapters shows how alternative energy sources are being used in other countries, such as ethanol in Brazil, geothermal in Iceland, and solar en

Having grown up in Los Angeles, I remember the fun of riding the red electric street car as a small child over 60 years ago. I watched as the system was replaced by a maze of freeways and the concomittant development, changing a great landscape into what has become known as Californication. After reading this book, now I know how and why it happened. Black writes convincingly of the greed that has dictated public energy policy over the past 100 years and brought us to our present sorry state of affairs with pollution, global warming, and oil dependency. While some of the conspiracy implications may not be proven in this book, there is no denying the consequences of our energy history. I found the book a thoughtful, well researched and well written presentation of this history. It was an enjoyable if disturbing read.

A while back an old sage once answered an economical question I had with this, "An economy based on WASTE". But he said it with a disgust I never quite understood. UNTIL NOW. And it is in book form, written by a very skilled writer, Edwin Black (eight Pulitzers and two National Book Award Nominations). Researched to an nth'degree, 19 pages of acknowledgements!. Many, many fascinating tidbits such as the word car that started out as horseless carraige to carraige to car for short. Or the red flag laws where a man had to run ahead of the car waving a red flag & blowing a horn to warn all in the cars path. It loaded with interesting stories and facts you've never heard of. The story about GM destroying the mass electric transit/cars in the U.S.- is alone worth the price. Very well written and informative, as in: "A century of lies about internal combustion arising from a millennium of monopolistic misconduct in energy has wounded the world's collective health, fractured a fragile enviroment, and ignighted a deadly petropolitical war that has become nothing less than a cataclysmic clash of civilizations." Or,"Internal combustion kills. Few of us realize that as we drive to non-smoking restaurants, everyone around us is inhaling gases as deadly as that in any cigarette". Or, "The implication was that in the thirties and forties, at a time when GM was undermining American transport and urban mass transit, the bus and auto giant was doing all in its power to enhance Reich transport". Or, "The single most fuel-inefficient undertaking on earth is arguably the heavily armed military convoy escorting oil tanker trucks in Iraq. More petroleum is undoubtedly consumed to protect the delivery than is carried in the tanker itself". Or that 'it takes 1.29 gallons of petroleum or petroleum equivalents to produce one gallon of ethanol'. (The Brazilians use sugar cane in a different process that is self sustaining and is explained in detail.) The author follows mankind from thousands of years ago to now as he continually misuses energy. He goes into the alternative energy sources: ocean thermal, geothermal, wind and solar, nanosolar. He devotes a whole chapter to hydrogen. His depiction of Honda's FCX hydrogen car is very very cool. In conclusion, the author stresses, there needs to be a public policy that excercises "sane" stewardship over energy and those who control it. A very informative and instructive read of the energy crisis that we as mankind face today. Highly recommended!!!!

This new Black gem is typical Edwin - a boldly written page-turner brightly illuminating past misdeeds and miscreants as an important lesson for the future. As with his past books, IC features Black's trademark meticulous, well-referenced original research that draws upon previously unseen records and collections, such as the judge's hand-written notes from the GM conspiracy trial. In this latest investigation, Black goes back thousands of years, telling the history of fuel use and cartels, bringing life to mostly forgotten events. Black not only brings life to these events, but shows how enthralling well-told history can be. IC then moves to the real meat, the saga of the bad boys of bicycles, electric vehicles, and the internal combustion engine. Black gives life to great names of the past - Edison and Ford, among others. The telling is vivid - one can picture the massive and suspicious fire that destroyed Edison's facilities and the electric future that went with those facilities. Along with the book's heroes - people like Edison and Ford and companies like Honda - are the goats, like GM. Black meticulously dissects their activities in unravelling the electric trolley system - in a line by line, document by document, action by action telling of their massive conspiracy that is impossible to put down. (Flak jackets optional!) After whacking the ethanol industry, Black identifies the transportation fuel of the future as being hydrogen, made from renewable sources such as solar and wind. Not suprisingly, Black's corporate hero for the future is Honda. And in an extremely insightful assessment, Black lauds Honda not only for their work on fuel cell vehicles, but more importantly, their Home Energy Center that is now in development. I had the opportunity to see Black speak to the California Hydrogen Business Council at a book launch on September 15. Black is as good a speaker as he is a writer, and provided a few surprises. He is on a 300 event book tour right now, and I would urge you to see him speak in person as well as read the book. See Black's web site for list of tour dates.

All summer long I saw stories about gas prices and automobile troubles on a daily basis in the newspapers and on television. This left me troubled and frustrated about the problem that lied ahead for my generation. After reading Internal Combustion, this issue suddenly made sense. From a historical context, the events that led us up to our current chaos were deeply illustrated and it felt like I was a part of the story. Never before have I read such a thoroughly researched, intimately developed and page-turning thriller. I recommend this book to anyone to better understand the complex world that we live in, grasp the dynamics of this debate and grab the key's to our own future. This book has helped me do all of that and I am thankful to Edwin black for writing the story of our time. I promise you won't regret buying it for yourself!