Jeff Manuel
@jeffmanuel.bsky.social
Historian of Energy, Technology, and the Environment; Professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Coauthor of "Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels;” Public and Oral History Practitioner.
jeffmanuel.com
jeffmanuel.com
Pinned
Jeff Manuel
@jeffmanuel.bsky.social
· Oct 7
Ethanol - University of Oklahoma Press
Though ethanol, a liquid fuel made from agricultural byproducts, has generated controversy in recent years—good or bad for the environment? a big-ag boon o...
www.oupress.com
It's the official publication day for ETHANOL: A HEMISPHERIC HISTORY FOR THE FUTURE OF BIOFUELS. Want to know why the US turns 40 percent of the corn crop into fuel? How the US and Brazil became the world's two largest ethanol producers? Tom Rogers and I have answers.
www.oupress.com/978080619601...
www.oupress.com/978080619601...
At long last, I read @tj-stiles.bsky.social's 2002 biography of Jesse James. Although I moved from Minnesota to Missouri a decade and half ago (now in SW Illinois), I feel like this book finally gave me a key to understanding Missouri's politics and culture.
November 7, 2025 at 9:15 PM
At long last, I read @tj-stiles.bsky.social's 2002 biography of Jesse James. Although I moved from Minnesota to Missouri a decade and half ago (now in SW Illinois), I feel like this book finally gave me a key to understanding Missouri's politics and culture.
If you're planing to spend the weekend preparing for the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Monday, but you just don't know enough about the taconite pellets that were in the ship's ill-fated hold, may I recommend a book for you?
www.upress.umn.edu/978081669430...
🗃️
www.upress.umn.edu/978081669430...
🗃️
Taconite Dreams
Winner of the Midwestern History Association's 2016 Hamlin Garland Prize The Iron Range earned its name honestly: it was once among the world’s richest ...
www.upress.umn.edu
November 7, 2025 at 7:34 PM
If you're planing to spend the weekend preparing for the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Monday, but you just don't know enough about the taconite pellets that were in the ship's ill-fated hold, may I recommend a book for you?
www.upress.umn.edu/978081669430...
🗃️
www.upress.umn.edu/978081669430...
🗃️
Heads up, energy historians, Ty Priest's new book on the history of offshore oil is coming this spring
🗃️
lsupress.org/978080718602...
🗃️
lsupress.org/978080718602...
Offshore Oildom
Offshore Oildom tells the riveting story of the United States’ quest to secure the oil riches of the sea. Drawing on a wealth of untapped sources, Tyler Pr...
lsupress.org
November 5, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Heads up, energy historians, Ty Priest's new book on the history of offshore oil is coming this spring
🗃️
lsupress.org/978080718602...
🗃️
lsupress.org/978080718602...
Alberta company proposing to use wood burned in wildfires to fuel power plants. This reads like an epilogue for the next edition of @johnvaillant.bsky.social's book, _Fire Weather_.
www.globenewswire.com/news-release...
www.globenewswire.com/news-release...
Forest Fire Deadwood Creates Opportunity for Two Global Biofuel Production Sites in Northern Alberta
PowerWood to build two Alberta production plants for converting wildfire deadwood into low-carbon black pellets, creating 500 jobs and reducing fire...
www.globenewswire.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Alberta company proposing to use wood burned in wildfires to fuel power plants. This reads like an epilogue for the next edition of @johnvaillant.bsky.social's book, _Fire Weather_.
www.globenewswire.com/news-release...
www.globenewswire.com/news-release...
I am pleased to report that the 6-7 (juggling hands motion) thing is now popular with elementary kids and local sports mascots and therefore cringe among older Gen Alphas and, thankfully, soon to be extinct.
November 1, 2025 at 8:00 PM
I am pleased to report that the 6-7 (juggling hands motion) thing is now popular with elementary kids and local sports mascots and therefore cringe among older Gen Alphas and, thankfully, soon to be extinct.
My local Fox station ran a story about the photo collection my students digitized this fall.
Profs, if your students do something cool that’s public-facing, write up a little press release and get it out to local media!
fox2now.com/news/illinoi...
Profs, if your students do something cool that’s public-facing, write up a little press release and get it out to local media!
fox2now.com/news/illinoi...
fox2now.com
November 1, 2025 at 3:05 PM
My local Fox station ran a story about the photo collection my students digitized this fall.
Profs, if your students do something cool that’s public-facing, write up a little press release and get it out to local media!
fox2now.com/news/illinoi...
Profs, if your students do something cool that’s public-facing, write up a little press release and get it out to local media!
fox2now.com/news/illinoi...
As a prof at a regional public, I think this is a funny parody ad campaign
featherstone.university
featherstone.university
Featherstone University
featherstone.university
November 1, 2025 at 2:38 PM
As a prof at a regional public, I think this is a funny parody ad campaign
featherstone.university
featherstone.university
At my university's surplus property warehouse, trying to get this beauty for my office
October 28, 2025 at 6:34 PM
At my university's surplus property warehouse, trying to get this beauty for my office
Schrute Farms today is almost certainly a data center/gas plant, right?
October 27, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Schrute Farms today is almost certainly a data center/gas plant, right?
Since the discourse™️ is debating working-class culture and appearance this morning, let me recommend Ryan Murphy’s great new book, _Teamster’s Metropolis_, which is an analysis of the culture and bodies of Teamsters at midcentury.
press.umich.edu/Books/T/Team...
press.umich.edu/Books/T/Team...
Teamsters Metropolis
In the 1950s, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters empowered poor immigrants who had grown up in the crowded blocks of the central city to move upward and outward to comfortable suburbs. It deli...
press.umich.edu
October 25, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Since the discourse™️ is debating working-class culture and appearance this morning, let me recommend Ryan Murphy’s great new book, _Teamster’s Metropolis_, which is an analysis of the culture and bodies of Teamsters at midcentury.
press.umich.edu/Books/T/Team...
press.umich.edu/Books/T/Team...
Really interesting development. ADM's successful CCS operation at its Decatur, IL, corn mill hasn't seen much coverage, but it may be a sign of things to come. US corn ethanol plants have been piloting CCS for a long time. That's going to attract more attention now.
Google plans to buy most of the power produced by the country’s first commercial carbon-capture natural gas plant in Decatur, Illinois, @zeitlin.bsky.social reports: heatmap.news/climate-tech...
Google Is Backing the First Commercial Carbon Capture Power Plant in the U.S.
That means it’s also buying natural gas — but by storing the emissions, the company says, it can still meet its climate goals.
heatmap.news
October 23, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Really interesting development. ADM's successful CCS operation at its Decatur, IL, corn mill hasn't seen much coverage, but it may be a sign of things to come. US corn ethanol plants have been piloting CCS for a long time. That's going to attract more attention now.
Reposted by Jeff Manuel
‘Low-Carbon Histories for Zero-Carbon Futures’ is out today @jofhistgeog.bsky.social - a collective case for thinking historically about energy. doi.org/10.1016/j.jh...
October 23, 2025 at 7:24 AM
‘Low-Carbon Histories for Zero-Carbon Futures’ is out today @jofhistgeog.bsky.social - a collective case for thinking historically about energy. doi.org/10.1016/j.jh...
Excellent deep dive into the pressures facing large commodity growers in the Mississippi Valley today and how they evolved from decades of US farm policy.
arktimes.com/arkansas-blo...
arktimes.com/arkansas-blo...
Dirt rich, cash poor: As economic pressures mount, some Delta farmers hoe their last row - Arkansas Times
Federal aid favors big farms, but even the biggest operations in Arkansas are in danger of failing.
arktimes.com
October 22, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Excellent deep dive into the pressures facing large commodity growers in the Mississippi Valley today and how they evolved from decades of US farm policy.
arktimes.com/arkansas-blo...
arktimes.com/arkansas-blo...
Digitizing some 1970s posters from our campus archive today. This one advertising a speech by Buckminster Fuller is amazing.
October 21, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Digitizing some 1970s posters from our campus archive today. This one advertising a speech by Buckminster Fuller is amazing.
Reposted by Jeff Manuel
In the mailbag! @jeffmanuel.bsky.social
October 21, 2025 at 12:17 AM
In the mailbag! @jeffmanuel.bsky.social
Reposted by Jeff Manuel
It's been a while, but I have exciting news! Our department is hiring a Digital Historian with a specialization in Early America. Help us spread the word by sharing this opportunity within your networks. #DigitalHistory #DH #HigherEdJobs
jobs.uc.edu/job/Cincinna...
jobs.uc.edu/job/Cincinna...
Assistant Professor in Digital and Early American History, Department of History, College of A&S
Assistant Professor in Digital and Early American History, Department of History, College of A&S
jobs.uc.edu
October 19, 2025 at 1:37 PM
It's been a while, but I have exciting news! Our department is hiring a Digital Historian with a specialization in Early America. Help us spread the word by sharing this opportunity within your networks. #DigitalHistory #DH #HigherEdJobs
jobs.uc.edu/job/Cincinna...
jobs.uc.edu/job/Cincinna...
Full program for "The Power of Energy" online conference sponsored by the Hagley Library, 10/30-10/31. Looking forward to this! 🗃️
October 14, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Full program for "The Power of Energy" online conference sponsored by the Hagley Library, 10/30-10/31. Looking forward to this! 🗃️
Reposted by Jeff Manuel
Not sure how I missed this post, but I did not miss the book in my mail. Cheers @jeffmanuel.bsky.social !!!
October 14, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Not sure how I missed this post, but I did not miss the book in my mail. Cheers @jeffmanuel.bsky.social !!!
"The human race faces two of the greatest challenges that it has ever faced. And these have no real precedent so history is not a very good guide here, but it’s something that we have to face and we have to think about with the tools that history provides us +
October 13, 2025 at 9:44 PM
"The human race faces two of the greatest challenges that it has ever faced. And these have no real precedent so history is not a very good guide here, but it’s something that we have to face and we have to think about with the tools that history provides us +
Students in my digital archiving studio class have finished a neat collection of late 19th-early 20th century black and white photos from Madison County, Illinois. Check them out if you like midwestern history.
Now freely available here: madison-historical.siue.edu/archive/item...
Now freely available here: madison-historical.siue.edu/archive/item...
Godfrey Photograph Collection – Madison Historical
Online Encyclopedia and Digital Archive for Madison County, Illinois
madison-historical.siue.edu
October 13, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Students in my digital archiving studio class have finished a neat collection of late 19th-early 20th century black and white photos from Madison County, Illinois. Check them out if you like midwestern history.
Now freely available here: madison-historical.siue.edu/archive/item...
Now freely available here: madison-historical.siue.edu/archive/item...
Delighted to see Joel Mokyr among the winners of the Nobel economics prize. Taking history classes with him was a highlight of my time as an undergraduate. We students would sit at a big seminar table and he'd pace around behind us, peppering us with very detailed questions.
October 13, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Delighted to see Joel Mokyr among the winners of the Nobel economics prize. Taking history classes with him was a highlight of my time as an undergraduate. We students would sit at a big seminar table and he'd pace around behind us, peppering us with very detailed questions.
“On October 6 I drove by the Society’s modest brick building, surrounded by yellow tape, and saw the moving truck, accompanied by two sheriffs—appropriate for a crime scene, the theft of the history that might have been written using the collection.”
Marian Wilson Kimber: It’s painful to realize the people in charge of Iowa’s history apparently have no idea how history works. If they did, they'd know there is no way to predict what parts of the collection will be of interest 5, 20, or 100 years from now. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/10/10/t...
The theft of history
Marian Wilson Kimber: I have wondered if the box of women’s club programs that changed my life will end up in the dumpster.
www.bleedingheartland.com
October 11, 2025 at 3:10 PM
“On October 6 I drove by the Society’s modest brick building, surrounded by yellow tape, and saw the moving truck, accompanied by two sheriffs—appropriate for a crime scene, the theft of the history that might have been written using the collection.”
Not to downplay the serious issues it raises, but this graphic from Cerulogy's recent biofuels is funny. Are those all-corn tacos? Is it just the tortilla? I'm now imagining the US Corn Belt growing billions of tacos...
October 10, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Not to downplay the serious issues it raises, but this graphic from Cerulogy's recent biofuels is funny. Are those all-corn tacos? Is it just the tortilla? I'm now imagining the US Corn Belt growing billions of tacos...
I appreciate WBEZ's scrutiny of higher ed online program managers. (My university is one of those mentioned with a Risepoint contract.) As @tressiemcphd.bsky.social has said for years, with OPMs the for-profit college model in now working *within* public higher ed.
www.wbez.org/education/20...
www.wbez.org/education/20...
Students for profit? University of Illinois campuses pay company per online student
Consumer protection advocates say the practice incentivizes the company to enroll as many students as possible, regardless of whether they'll benefit. The university says their standards aren't compro...
www.wbez.org
October 9, 2025 at 5:57 PM
I appreciate WBEZ's scrutiny of higher ed online program managers. (My university is one of those mentioned with a Risepoint contract.) As @tressiemcphd.bsky.social has said for years, with OPMs the for-profit college model in now working *within* public higher ed.
www.wbez.org/education/20...
www.wbez.org/education/20...
It's the official publication day for ETHANOL: A HEMISPHERIC HISTORY FOR THE FUTURE OF BIOFUELS. Want to know why the US turns 40 percent of the corn crop into fuel? How the US and Brazil became the world's two largest ethanol producers? Tom Rogers and I have answers.
www.oupress.com/978080619601...
www.oupress.com/978080619601...
Ethanol - University of Oklahoma Press
Though ethanol, a liquid fuel made from agricultural byproducts, has generated controversy in recent years—good or bad for the environment? a big-ag boon o...
www.oupress.com
October 7, 2025 at 7:07 PM
It's the official publication day for ETHANOL: A HEMISPHERIC HISTORY FOR THE FUTURE OF BIOFUELS. Want to know why the US turns 40 percent of the corn crop into fuel? How the US and Brazil became the world's two largest ethanol producers? Tom Rogers and I have answers.
www.oupress.com/978080619601...
www.oupress.com/978080619601...