Energy and the Making of Modern California (Akron, Ohio: University of Akron Press, 1997.)

As many observers have pointed out, California surpasses many of the world's nations in the size and scope of its economy. A crucial element of California's economic growth has been its production and use of a variety of energy sources. Energy and the Making of Modern California is a definitive study of the pivotal role played by energy in the history of the Golden State. The book provides a comprehensive narrative of the history of energy in California, along with an analysis of the economic, political, and cultural forces that have driven it. As with many aspects of California history, energy production and use has departed substantially from patterns established in other parts of the United States, and the reasons for this divergent path constitutes on of the key themes of the book. Energy and the Making of Modern California is clearly written, and filled with fascinating details like the rise and fall of solar water heating in the early 20th century, the re-emergence of wind power in the 1970s, and the development of oil as a fuel for steam locomotives in the late 19th century. Abundantly supplied with maps, graphs, charts, tables, and photographs, this book will be of interest to anyone interested in energy, the environment, or the history of California.

The Role of Defense Spending in Recent Economic Growth of the San Francisco Bay Area

Master thesis completed in 1971 and never published.  San Jose State University recently digitized it (with my permission) and it is available as a pdf file.

During the 1970s, one of the most important developments in American life was the overwhelming impact of defense expenditures on national society. Several industrial areas of the country apparently became economically dependent upon federal government contracts, and it military and aerospace spending engendered significant national political and philosophical changes. At the time it was generally assumed that the San Francisco Bay Area depended heavily upon defense and space contracts; yet no study fully had tried to analyze the historical growth, development, and economic impact of defense spending in the region. To what extent the Bay Area's industrial base relied upon defense expenditures was not clear. Nor was it evident what factors caused the growth of the region's defense-oriented economy.

I undertook this thesis in hopes of unraveling the development of the Bay Area's industrial base in the late-1960s and analyzing the real impact of federal contracts upon the region’s economy.
Whereas my original intention was to explore the political and philosophical attitudes propagated among the residents of a region largely dependent upon national defense programs, I discovered that the claim that the region was indeed dependent on defense spending had not been proven.  Hence, my thesis focused on making this case.

Looking back on this thesis forty years later and after a lifetime of research, writing and teaching, I am amazed that I took on such a project as a young graduate student.  Of course, it is plainly the work of a young scholar, one not nearly as informed in cliometrics as he should have been, and it is dry as a desert in some spots.  But, it fulfilled the goal of providing the evidence that the San Francisco Bay Area – ironically a most liberal region found the counterculture and anti-war movements of the sixties to be mother’s milk – was, in fact, dependent economically on military and aerospace spending.