{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in History","slug":"new-books-in-history-160748","podcast_index_feed_id":160748,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/LIT3360275696","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/politics-society/history/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/5259aaca-f298-11e8-9c09-2ffd527922e7/image/6997b2fe61dc73a9d4ffd37b9e862b62.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":500,"summary":"This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history","last_synced_at":"2026-07-13T16:19:40.703970+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-history-160748"},"episode":{"title":"Ciruce A. Movahedi-Lankarani, \"Accelerant: Energy Infrastructures and the Natural World in Making Modern Iran\" (Stanford UP, 2026)","slug":"ciruce-a-movahedi-lankarani-accelerant-energy-infrastructures-and-the-natural-world-in-making-modern-iran-stanford-up-2026","published_at":"2026-06-24T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-history-160748/ciruce-a-movahedi-lankarani-accelerant-energy-infrastructures-and-the-natural-world-in-making-modern-iran-stanford-up-2026","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-history-160748","url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/chtbl.com/track/1C3AGD/traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK9237553177.mp3","audio_url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/chtbl.com/track/1C3AGD/traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK9237553177.mp3","summary":"Between the late 1940s and the end of the twentieth century, natural gas became Iran's bedrock energy source. Billed as a futuristic fuel for a future world power, gas became an avenue for the country's developmentalist ambitions. The ability to build technologically sophisticated infrastructures served as a powerful tool of state legitimation, both before and after the 1979 Revolution, and tied top-down politics of modernization to bottom-up feelings of national belonging. Accelerant: Energy Infrastructures and the Natural World in Making Modern Iran (Stanford UP, 2026) analyzes the interwoven histories of energy, development, and the environment inIran. Following the movement of natural gas from underground deposits, through infrastructures of refining and distribution, and into everyday life, Ciruce Movahedi-Lankarani explores the roles of development planners, oil firms, industrialists, engineers, and consumers—as well as the mountain ranges, sedimentary rock, and natural gas itself—to show how natural gas emerged as a crucial enabler of industrialization and a strong impetus for resource nationalism. Tracing the transformation of gas from a waste product into a vital resource, this book offers a history of anticolonial developmentalism in Iran—revealing a key driver toward intensified energy use that suggests why and how societies in the Global South became voracious consumers of fossil fuel energy. Ciruce Movahedi-Lankarani is the Farhang Foundation Early Career Chair in Iranian Studies and Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies and Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California.Filippo De Chirico is a Ph.D. Candidate in Energy History at Roma Tre University. His research focuses on the history of the Italian natural gas sector. Learn more ab…","meta_description":"Between the late 1940s and the end of the twentieth century, natural gas became Iran's bedrock energy source. Billed as a futuristic fuel for a future wor…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3269,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-history-160748/episodes/ciruce-a-movahedi-lankarani-accelerant-energy-infrastructures-and-the-natural-world-in-making-modern-iran-stanford-up-2026/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-history-160748/ciruce-a-movahedi-lankarani-accelerant-energy-infrastructures-and-the-natural-world-in-making-modern-iran-stanford-up-2026.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}