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
'Electric Wind is a rollicking read that uncovers the hidden history of wind power in Britain. Marianna Dudley masterfully illustrates that our current 'big wind' model was never a historical inevitability, but a choice. By revisiting the early 20th-century era of decentralized wind (paired even then with batteries and electric vehicles) and the first large-scale trials under public ownership, Dudley provides an invaluable mirror for todays energy leaders. For anyone in the industry trying to navigate the energy transition, this book is a timely reminder that technological development is ultimately shaped by people and places.' Dr Arthur Downing, Strategy Director at Octopus Energy, Senior Visiting Fellow at LSE, and author of Power and the People: A History of British Energy
'Essential to understanding where the ambition to harness wind power came from, the disputes it has provoked and where it might be going... attention to marginal places is a hallmark of Electric wind.' Andrew Seaton, Literary Review -- .
