David E. Nye - Illuminations and Expositions

'Illuminations and Expositions: Reinventing the American City 1875-1915'

Between 1875 and 1915 the United States went through a major energy transition, as the nation adopted electricity. This process primarily took place in cities, where the new energy form was used to change the appearance and use of streets, businesses, public buildings, and monuments. This PowerPoint lecture will explore the alternatives that American cities explored, as they used the new energy form. The lecture will be a preliminary presentation of a new research project that builds on earlier work, notably American Technological Sublime and Electrifying America.

David E. Nye is Professor of American History at the Danish Institute of Advanced Study at the University of Southern Denmark. He graduated from Amherst College and completed his MA and PhD at the University of Minnesota. He has taught American studies in the United States, Spain, the Netherlands, and Denmark, and lectured throughout Europe on American history and culture. 

The 18 books he has edited or written include, most recently, America's Assembly Line (2013) and When the Lights Went Out (2010) His Electrifying America (1990) won the Dexter Prize and the Abel Wolman Award. His most frequently cited book is American Technological Sublime (1994).  His America as Second Creation: Technology and Narratives of New Beginnings (MIT, April, 2003) was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. His Technology Matters: Questions to Live With was translated into French and German and received the Sally Hacker Prize in 2009.  He has appeared on the BBC and American public radio, and he was the narrator and one of the scriptwriters for the eight part Danish television series, "Inventing Modern America." 

He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of American History and serves on the editorial board for several book series including the presses of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Massachusetts. He was on the Danish-American Fulbright Board from 1987 until 1997. He was the first chair of SDU's Center for American Studies, and has served as President of the Danish Association for American Studies, Vice-President of the Nordic Association for American Studies, and co-editor of the journal, American Studies in Scandinavia from 1996 to 2003. 

Sponsors:
Graduate Program in Historic Preservation
Kleinman Center for Energy Policy