POWER PLAY is a compelling and fast-paced account of the decades-long struggle to wrest control of electricity from public hands. Sharon Beder’s riveting analysis ranges from early machinations in the halls of American political power, to struggles by local communities in South Asia to stem the environmental damage being wrought by multinational energy providers.

As electrification spread across America and the world in the first half of the twentieth century, private corporations went in hot pursuit of unprecedented profits from millions of new fee-paying customers. Blocking their path was the widely held view that electricity met an essential need and that it should be regulated—if not owned outright—by the public. The electricity companies fought back hard, buying up newspapers, politicians, and radio stations—and flooding the schools with free, pro-industry schoolbooks. Attempts by municipalities to retain public ownership were decried as “Bolshevism.” It was the dawn of modern corporate public relations, and a major chapter in the history of an industry at the very heart of modern life.

Setting the stage brilliantly for understanding recent deregulation and accompanying energy debacle, Power Play is a essential guide to the contemporary industrial, environmental, and political landscape.