I tell stories about things that make our world work.
I’m a writer, teacher, and public historian with a focus on energy, technology, and the environment. I’m fascinated by hidden histories of things that seem boring but turn out to be essential to how we live today and where we might go in the future.
Examples of my work
The Perennial Alternative: The History of Ethanol in the United States and Brazil and Lessons for a Renewable Energy Future
Forthcoming . . . stay tuned!
Taconite Dreams: The Struggle to Sustain Mining on Minnesota’s Iron Range, 1915-2000
Madison Historical: The Online Encyclopedia and Digital Archive for Madison County, Illinois
About
Jeff Manuel is a writer, college professor, and public historian. His research focuses on the intersection of energy, technology, and the environment. He is writing a book on the history of biofuels, or ethanol, in the United States and Brazil (co-authored with Tom Rogers).
Manuel's first book, Taconite Dreams: The Struggle to Sustain Mining on Minnesota's Iron Range, 1915-2000, was published in 2015 and received several awards for nonfiction. His research has also been published in numerous academic journals. His writing for the public has appeared in the Washington Post, The Hill, and elsewhere.
Manuel is also active in public and oral history. He has been a curator and online producer for exhibitions in Minnesota and Illinois. He has also directed or contributed to community oral history projects in the St. Louis region.
Manuel lives in Edwardsville, Illinois, where he is a professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Taconite Dreams: The Struggle to Sustain Mining on Minnesota’s Iron Range, 1915-2000
The first history of the fight to maintain an industry and a way of life on Minnesota’s Iron Range
Winner of the Midwestern History Association's 2016 Hamlin Garland Prize and the Northeastern Minnesota Book Award
Jeffrey T. Manuel examines how Minnesota’s Iron Range fought the dislocation that came with economic changes, technological advances, and global shifts in industrial production. Taconite Dreams demonstrates how the area fit into a larger story of regions wrestling with deindustrialization in the twentieth century.
Teaching
As a professor in the history department at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Manuel teaches courses in the histories of energy, technology, and the environment. He also teaches public history courses and supervises student internships.
Contact
If you’d like to chat about my research, freelance writing, or consulting, please feel free to email me.
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jeff (dot) manuel (at) gmail (dot) com
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SIUE History Department
Campus Box 1454
Edwardsville, IL 62026
(618) 650-2836