History / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)

Contextualizes the Development of Early American Violence and Gun Culture

A Wide-Ranging Environmental and Historical Study of the Evolution of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul Area

The First Comprehensive Examination of Chicago’s Environmental History from Indigenous Peoples to Twenty-First Century Environmental Restoration

The Standard Oil Company emerged out of obscurity in the 1860s to capture 90 percent of the petroleum refining industry in the United States during the Gilded Age. Economic success masked the dark side of efficiency as Standard Oil dumped oil waste into public waterways, filled the urban atmosphere with acrid smoke, and created a consumer safety crisis by selling kerosene below Congressional standards. Organized around the four classical elements at the core of Standard Oil’s success (earth, air, fire, and water), Refining Nature provides an ecological context for the rise of one of the most important corporations in American history.