Saturday, December 21st, 2019, 2:00 – 4:00 PM
George P. Mitchell
Fracking, Sustainability, and an Unorthodox Quest to Save the Planet
by Loren C. Steffy
Texas A&M University Press, 2019
Galveston Bookshop will host a book signing on Saturday, December 21st, 2019, 2:00-4:00 p.m. for author Loren C. Steffy with his new biography of the well known oilman and philanthropist, George Mitchell.
Upon George Mitchell’s death in 2013, The Economist proclaimed, “Few businesspeople have done as much to change the world as George Mitchell,” a billionaire Texas oilman who defied the stereotypical swagger so identified with that industry. In George P. Mitchell: Fracking, Sustainability, and an Unorthodox Quest to Save the Planet, award-winning author Loren C. Steffy offers the first definitive biography of Mitchell, placing his life and legacy in a global context, from the significance of his discoveries to the lingering controversies they inspired.
Mitchell will forever be known as “the father of fracking,” but he didn’t invent the drilling process; he perfected it and made it profitable. Long before this, he pioneered sustainable development by creating The Woodlands, near Houston, one of the first and most successful master-planned communities. Its focus on environmental protection and livability redefined the American suburb.
Mitchell’s love of Galveston, where he was born, drove him to revive the then decaying Strand commercial district. He and his wife Cynthia worked together on the project that would result in the thriving retail district and cruise hub that it is today.
This compelling biography reveals Mitchell as a modern renaissance man who sought to make the world a better, more livable place, a man whose unbounded intellectual curiosity led him to support a wide range of interests in business, science, and philanthropy.
The book is number 26 in the Kenneth E. Montague Series in Oil and Business History, Texas A&M University Press.
Loren C. Steffy is a writer at large for Texas Monthly Magazine, an executive producer for Rational Middle Media and a former business columnist for the Houston Chronicle where he turned in award winning reporting for many years.