Energy Culture Work, Power, and Waste in Russia and the Soviet Union

“
Energy Culture
is a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary volume that productively documents the multiple resonances of energy across Russian and Soviet historical and cultural contexts. Well executed, thorough, and impressive in its breadth, the volume is an indispensable resource to scholars of Russian environmental and energy humanities. Considering Putin’s ongoing war against Ukraine — in part sustained by Russia’s role as a major producer and exporter of fossil fuels and other energy resources … such scholarship is more urgent than ever.” (Brittany R. Roberts, Modern Language Review, Vol. 120 (4), October, 2025) 

“The volume is organized chronologically, spanning roughly the 1860s to the 2010s. … This volume is a testament to the multitude of ways energy has influenced culture—both positively and negatively—across the modern era. In the context of Russian studies, this volume brings energy to the fore in fascinating ways that will no doubt result in future studies in the nascent subfield of energy culture.” (Katherine Bowers, The Russian Review, Vol. 84 (3), July, 2025) 

“Shortlisted for AATSEEL's Best Edited Multi-Author Scholarly Volume for 2023” (AATSEEL, aatseel.org, 2023)

“The chapters make for an energizing read and present ideas and approaches that will inspire anyone interested in energy humanities, or literary and cultural history of Rus- sia and the Soviet Union. Rather than reproducing ecocritical approaches that developed from other (largely Anglophone) aesthetic and cultural traditions, this book confidently suggests that study of Russian and Soviet energy culture might lead to modifications in existing approaches.” (Lily Scott, Slavic & East European Journal, Vol.67 (4), 2023)

“The volume’s thirteen chapters are arranged chronologically and draw from multiple disciplines. One of its strengths is the capacious definition of 'energy culture.' ... Given the prominence of Russia and the former Soviet states on the global and energy-industrial stage, Energy Culture is a valuable primer on the energy conflicts, infrastructures, and cultures that will continue to radiate from this part of the world.” (Isabel Lane, ISLE - Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, Vol.30 (4), 2023)

Jillian Porter  is Associate Professor in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Colorado Boulder, USA. She is the author of  Economies of Feeling: Russian Literature under Nicholas I  (2017)   and has published essays on money, commodities, and the queue in Russian and Soviet literature and cinema. 

Maya Vinokour  is Assistant Professor in the Department of Russian and Slavic Studies at New York University, USA. She studies Stalinist labor culture, late-Soviet science fiction, and post-Soviet media.