In the latter part of the nineteenth century, the citizens of Great Britain faced a formidable challenge: coal resources seemed destined to run out and commentators were unable to foresee a viable alternative fuel. To address the crisis, military strategists were urged to seize control of coal in foreign lands, and companies were encouraged to increase domestic production of the resource. In Global Energy Shifts, Bruce Podobnik draws intriguing parallels between the \u0022coal panics\u0022 that once swept through Britain and the \u0022oil panics\u0022 that grip the world today. His concise history of global energy use contextualizes the coal and oil scares, demonstrating how the convergence of specific geopolitical, commercial, and social conditions can generate rapid and far-reaching transformations in the energy foundations of our world. Ultimately, Podobnik informs readers on how a \u0022crisis\u0022 of one fuel system is quickly averted with the introduction of another, and describes opportunities for shifting our problematic, oil-based system toward a renewable energy system.

This volume examines the emergence of the movement of resistance that has arisen to challenge neoliberal forms of globalization. The co-authors of this book describe how workers, environmentalists, human rights activists, and a wide variety of other groups have joined together to protest against institutions such as the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank. Ongoing challenges facing the movement are objectively reviewed. Authors also highlight the continuing vitality of the movement in the post 9/11 period. By providing a collection of social scientific analyses, this volume significantly advances our understanding of what is probably the most important progressive movement of our time.
Bruce Podobnik is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Lewis and Clark College (Portland, OR). He is author of Global Energy Shifts (2005), as well as articles on environmental and social movement topics.
Thomas Reifer, Ph.D. (2000) in Sociology, State University of New York at Binghamton, is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of San Diego.