Brian C. Black is Distinguished Professor of History and Environmental Studies at Penn State Altoona. Recognized as a global expert on energy and petroleum history, he is the author of more than a dozen books, which include Petrolia: The Landscape of America's First Oil Boom, Crude Reality: Petroleum in World History, and To Have and Have Not: Energy in World History. He is also the founding editor of the Energy and Society book series with West Virginia University Press. His writing on energy has appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, The Conversation, The National Interest, and The New York Times. Most recently, his book Ike's Road Trip: How Eisenhower's 1919 Convoy Paved the Way for the Roads We Travel appeared in 2024.