Episode 317: Gas Prices and the History of Energy Shocks

In this episode, Niki, Neil, and Natalia discuss rising gas prices and the history of energy crises.

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Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: 

• Gas prices are surging, and Americans are frustrated. We all drew on historian Meg Jacobs’ book, Panic at the Pump: The Energy Crisis and the Transformation of American Politics in the 1970s. Natalia referred to this Atlantic article about the fiction of “energy independence.” Niki referred to this Washington Post article on the historical relationship around oil between Russia and western nations.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia shared Alex Hawgood’s New York Times article, “What is Bigorexia?”
• Neil recommended Henry Fountain’s New York Times article, “At the Bottom of an Icy Sea, One of History’s Great Wrecks Found.”
• Niki discussed Peggy McGlone’s Washington Post piece, “Smithsonian to Give Back Its Collection of Benin Bronzes.”