Power for the People

A History of Seattle City Light

By: David W. Wilma, Walt Crowley

Write A Review

Hardcover | 1 November 2010

At a Glance

Hardcover
128 Pages

Age
22+

Dimensions(cm)
25.4 x 27.9 x 1.68

Hardcover

$72.25

or 4 interest-free payments of $18.06 with

or

Aims to ship in 10 to 15 business days

Since before Seattle voters decided in 1092 to build their own lighting plant, City Light has been a source of fierce civic pride for its independence from "foreign" corporations, its impressive public works projects, and its consistently low electricity rates. It has also been a headache for competitors, managers, and politicians. In the first years of the electric age, when Seattle was still a hardscrable frontier town, power was supplied by a revolving cast of small private utilities remembered mostly for frequent mergers with rivals and mediocre service at high cost. The failure of the privately owned water company to deliver enough of its product to quell Seattle's Great Fire of 1888-89 got city officials and residents thinking about an alternative utility model--municipal ownership. Voters quickly approved a municipal water system, and within a decade had laid the groundwork for an electric utility. City Light quickly began a campaign of dam construction that for most of the twentieth century provided Seattle with the cheapest electricity of any major city in the country.

This brisk history traces the utility's origins to 1889 and follows its story through the national energy crisis of 2000-2001 up to the present. It is a quintessentially Northwest story.

Industry Reviews

"Provides a different angle into Seattle history and connects Seattle to the mountains and rivers and dams northeast of here. 'Power' also reminds us of the complex story and infrastructure that lie behind our ability to flick on the lights."

* City Living *

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.

Defective items

If there is a problem with any of the items received for your order then the Booktopia Customer Care team is ready to assist you.

For more info please visit our Help Centre.

More in Industrialisation & Industrial History

Energy Resource Conflict

Origins and Global Impact

Hardcover

RRP $190.00

$138.90

27%
OFF

Global Economic History

Hardcover

RRP $160.00

$118.80

26%
OFF

The Georgian Triumph, 1700-1830

Routledge Revivals

Hardcover

RRP $189.00

$138.25

27%
OFF

Collective Bargaining : Routledge Library Editions: Trade Unions - Clive Jenkins

Routledge Research in Gender and History

Hardcover

$318.16

Power for the People

A History of Seattle City Light

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

More in Industrialisation & Industrial History

Energy Resource Conflict

Origins and Global Impact

Global Economic History

Global Economic History

The History of Mining

The Events, Technology and People Involved in the Industry That Forged the Modern World

A Pipeline Runs Through It

Oil, Sovereignty and Politics to 1914

First-Class Passengers on a Sinking Ship

Elite Politics and the Decline of Great Powers

Routledge Library Editions

Industrial Relations

The Triumph of Textiles

Industrial Dundee, c. 17001918

The Georgian Triumph, 1700-1830

Routledge Revivals

Collective Bargaining

Routledge Library Editions: Trade Unions

Trade Unions

Routledge Library Editions: Trade Unions

The Thinking Space

The Caf�s a Cultural Institution in Paris, Italy and Vienna

Going to Market

Women, Trade and Social Relations in Early Modern English Towns, C. 1550-1650

The Transatlantic Hispanic Baroque

Complex Identities in the Atlantic World

Festival Culture in the World of the Spanish Habsburgs

Perspectives on Public Space in Rome, from Antiquity to the Present Day

Police Courts in Nineteenth-Century Scotland, Volume 2

Boundaries, Behaviours and Bodies

The Paris Zone

A Cultural History, 1840-1944

Police Courts in Nineteenth-Century Scotland, Volume 1

Magistrates, Media and the Masses

New Approaches to Naples C.1500-C.1800

The Power of Place

Ceremonial Entries in Early Modern Europe

The Iconography of Power

The Guild and Guild Buildings of Shakespeare's Stratford

Society, Religion, School and Stage

The Histories of a Medieval German City, Worms C. 1000-C. 1300

Translation and Commentary

Emma Paterson, Trade Unionist and Feminist, In Her Own Words

Routledge Research in Gender and History

This product is categorised by

Popular Searches