Living Oil: Petroleum Culture in the American Century

摘要

The study of oil in American culture has seen an uptick in scholarly works and interest since the 2010 BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In her book, Living Oil, Stephanie LeMenager, a literature professor, seeks to understand, through various forms of media, the role that oil has played in the hearts and minds of Americans during the last century. She questions the degree to which our memory and perception of oil has been saturated and/or influenced by visual and photographic representation of oil-related disasters. Do these media incite radicalism, inform political change, or simply get lost in our race to pursue modernity at any costs? These are some of the intriguing questions and ideas posited throughout the book's four lengthy chapters.