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Catalina M. de Onís, Book Review, Communication Theory, Volume 27, Issue 4, November 2017, Pages 409–410, https://doi.org/10.1111/comt.12121
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Energy literally makes our world go around. The calories we consume and burn, the energies we expend communicating with others, and the electric energy systems that enable our quotidian activities, including reading this very essay, remind us of the inseparability of humans and hydrocarbons. However, fossil-fuel reliance suffocates life by causing environmental degradation and global climate disruption. Thus, disconnecting ourselves from unsustainable energy sources is arguably the exigency of our time. This urgency creates a crucial opportunity for scholarly interventions and interdisciplinary collaborations. Two recent publications—Living Oil: Petroleum Culture in the American Century, by Stephanie LeMenager, and Under Pressure: Coal Industry Rhetoric and Neoliberalism, by Jennifer Schneider, Steve Schwarze, Peter K. Bsumek, and Jennifer Peeples—skillfully study how various energy media constitute a discursive apparatus that must be contemplated, critiqued, and, ultimately, collapsed. While LeMenager energizes her monograph by focusing on oil and its cultural viscosity and saturation, Schneider et al. dig into coal by extracting the industry’s adaptive rhetorical moves and strategic savvy. In this review, I examine some of the convergences of these ground-breaking books to contend that communication theory and the burgeoning energy humanities need each other.