{"product_id":"powering-a-city-how-energy-and-big-dreams-transformed-san-antonio-9781595348432","title":"Powering a City: How Energy and Big Dreams Transformed San Antonio","description":"At the center of San Antonio's growth from a small pioneering town to a major western metropolis sits CPS Energy, the largest municipally owned energy utility in the United States and an innovator in harnessing, conserving, and capitalizing on natural energy resources. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe story of modern energy in San Antonio begins in 1860, when the San Antonio Gas Company started manufacturing gas for streetlights in a small plant on San Pedro Creek, using tree resin that arrived by oxcart. The company grew from a dark, dusty frontier town with more saloons than grocery stores to a bustling crossroads to the West and, ultimately, a twentieth-first-century American city. Innovative city leaders purchased the utility from a New York-based holding company in 1942, and CPS Energy as we know it today was born. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePowering the City\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e, Catherine Nixon Cooke discusses the rise and fall of big holding companies, the impact of the Great Depression and World War II--when 25 percent of the company's workforce enlisted in the armed forces--on the city's energy supply, and the emergence of nuclear energy and a nationally acclaimed model for harnessing solar and wind energy. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eKnown and relatively unknown events are recounted, including Samuel Insull's move to Europe after his empire crashed in 1929; President Franklin Roosevelt's Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, which made it possible for the city to purchase the San Antonio Public Service Company; the city's competition with the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority, whose champion was Congressman Lyndon Johnson, in which the city emerged victorious in a deal that today returns billions in financial benefit; legal wranglings such as one that led to the establishment of Valero Energy Corporation; and energy's role in the Southwest Research Institute and the South Texas Medical Center, HemisFair 1968, Sea World, Fiesta Texas, and Morgan's Wonderland. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eImages from CPS's archive of historic photographs, some dating as far back as the early 1900s; back issues of its in-house magazine; and the Institute of Texas Cultures provide rich material to illustrate the story. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs CPS Energy celebrates seventy-five years of city ownership, the region's industrial, scientific, and technological innovation are due in part to the company's extraordinary impact on San Antonio.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Maverick Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/30\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781595348432\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 208\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.35lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 10.10h x 8.80w x 0.70d","brand":"Catherine Nixon Cooke","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40648953331893,"sku":"9781595348432","price":16.96,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_3e2cb213-8fa2-47e8-918b-7434b555381b.jpg?v=1627962958","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/powering-a-city-how-energy-and-big-dreams-transformed-san-antonio-9781595348432","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}