num_pages: 280
description: In recent years the concept of peak oilthe moment when global oil production peaks and a train of economic social and political catastrophes accompany its subsequent declinehas captured the imagination of a surprisingly large number of Americans ordinary citizens as well as scholars and created a quiet yet intense underground movement. In Peak Oil Matthew Schneider-Mayerson takes readers deep inside the world of peakists showing how their hopes and fears about the postcarbon future led them to prepare for the social breakdown they foreseeall of which are fervently discussed and debated via websites online forums videos and novels. By exploring the worldview of peakists and the unexpected way that the fear of peak oil and climate change transformed many members of this left-leaning group into survivalists Schneider-Mayerson builds a larger analysis of the rise of libertarianism the role of oil in modern life the political impact of digital technologies the racial and gender dynamics of post-apocalyptic fantasies and the social organization of environmental denial.
language: None
title: Peak Oil: Apocalyptic Environmentalism and Libertarian Political Culture
publisher: University of Chicago Press