If you're an editor or journalist looking for experts who can speak knowledgeably about previous oil crises, the program from this 2024 conference has a great list.
@jeffmanuel
Historian of Energy, Technology, and the Environment; Professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Coauthor of "Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels;” Public and Oral History Practitioner. jeffmanuel.com
If you're an editor or journalist looking for experts who can speak knowledgeably about previous oil crises, the program from this 2024 conference has a great list.
"Ethanol is so boring," they said, "no one cares." Well, check out the number one song on the hot rap charts right now: Don Toliver's "E85" from his "Octane" album. Obviously, this song is a hidden analysis of flex-fuel vehicle policies 😂
www.billboard.com/music/chart-...
Very cool to see the paintings of my friend Paula Kamps featured in @adamtooze.bsky.social's chartbook
adamtooze.substack.com/p/top-links-...
This may not exactly answer your question, but books have a level of permanence and longevity that those other formats do not. Do you want your work available to readers far into the future?
Good point. I think about Faludi's _Stiffed_ all the time. Published in 1999 and way ahead of its time.
I wrote about the strangeness of following events in Minneapolis—where I'm from—and watching a citizenship naturalization ceremony in St. Louis, which is my home now. Not sure if anyone wants or needs more words about these things, but here are mine.
jeffmanuel.com/blog-1/2026/...
co-authoring: it's not for everybody
Moving closer to the joke that financial markets are just astrology for men
The cover of a book titled Wolf Willow by Wallace Stegner
A page of text from a book titled "Genesis"
If you need a reading recommendation while hunkered down for a winter storm, this is the best one, bar none
It's free and online. Registration here view.ecommunications2.umn.edu?qs=baa334565...
If you'd like some Minnesota-related news that's not terrible, Tom Rogers and I will be talking about our book, _Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels_, as part of the University of Minnesota History Department's book club on Wednesday, February 11, from 6-7 pm.
Both look great, thank you!
Thanks!
Thank you!
Historians: is there a good book or article on the history of the League of Women Voters? A student will be processing an archival collection of local LWV records and I'm looking for relevant background readings. Thanks!
🗃️
Thanks to Ethanol Producer Magazine (the trade magazine for biofuels, in case you're not a subscriber) for featuring _Ethanol: A Hemispheric History_ in the current issue.
ethanolproducer.com/articles/sha...
In the 2000s, I met a t-shirt buyer for Target. According to him, he tried to revive Vaurnet as an ironic retro brand but couldn’t pull it off for some reason.
This is like a Cory Arcangel installation piece
This is a rare example of doing two type of opeds often done poorly well (AI & Rust Belt op-eds)
Photo of a plastic manatee tea infuser on the side of a white Christmas mug
This mana-tea infuser is a favorite gift this year. But pouring hot water on this guy feels like a sad metaphor for climate change.
Which do you find more annoying: bad handwriting or doing tech support?
So long as you’re okay assessing content knowledge rather than the structure of an argument, bluebooks.
Whoa. Didn’t know about this. Thanks for sharing.
Agreed. This is an issue of priorities. Madison and St. Clair counties in Illinois maintain hundreds of miles of incredible dedicated bike trails. There's no reason the riverfront trail couldn't be just a nice (except for after a flood 😅)
I was just talking about what kind of bicycle you can ride while wearing a blazer without looking silly. The answer is
(a) a classic roadster, or
(b) anything if you’re Humphrey Bogart.
In our recent book, Tom Rogers and I tell the story of how a state-level regulator in Maine, of all places, uncovered the MTBE water pollution crisis. One of my favorite stories from the book.
www.oupress.com/978080619601...
On FarmDoc daily, Scott Irwin has a nice analysis of the timing of US corn ethanol investments and the Renewable Fuel Standards. In short, banning MTBE as a fuel additive *before* RFS was a causal factor.
farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2025/12/what...
Looking forward to a brave new future where AI plays the Costello to my Abbott
Screenshot of an AI summary that confuses NCAR for NASCAR
Trying to understand why the Trump administration is dismantling NCAR, so I asked for an AI summary. But now I'm more confused than ever
creating new blind spots. Microfilm did the same two generations prior. Seems like we historians should channel a bit more of our customary sanguinary at this moment.