Overview

Petroleum is now so deeply entrenched in our economy, our politics, and our personal expectations that even modest efforts to phase it out are fought tooth and nail by the most powerful forces in the world: companies and governments that depend on oil revenues; the developing nations that see oil as the only means to industrial success; and a Western middle class that refuses to modify its energy-dependent lifestyle. But within thirty years, by even conservative estimates, we will have burned our way through most of the oil that is easily accessible. And well before then, the side effects of an oil-based society--economic volatility, geopolitical conflict, and the climate-changing impact of hydrocarbon pollution--will render fossil fuels an all but unacceptable solution. How will we break our addiction to oil? And what will we use in its place to maintain a global economy and political system that are entirely reliant on cheap, readily available energy? Brilliantly reported from around the globe, The End of Oil brings the world situation into fresh and dramatic focus for business and general readers alike. Roberts talks to both oil optimists and oil pessimists, delves deep into the economics and politics of oil, considers the promises and pitfalls of alternatives, and shows that, although the world energy system has begun its epoch-defining transition, disruption and violent dislocation are almost assured if we do not take a more proactive stance. With the topicality and readability of Fast Food Nation and the scope and trenchant analysis of Guns, Germs, and Steel, this is a vitally important book for the new century.

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Forces readers to confront unsettling truths. This book may very well become for fossil fuels what Fast Food Nation was to food.

Forces readers to confront unsettling truths. This book may very well become for fossil fuels what Fast Food Nation was to food. May very well become for fossil fuels what Fast Food Nation was to food or High and Mighty to SUVs. Publishers Weekly Brilliant The Baltimore Sun A stunning piece of work -- perhaps the best single book ever produced about our energy economy and its environmental implications. New York Review of Books An extraordinarily clear and powerful analysis of what is arguably the most serious crisis our industrial society has ever faced. Boston Herald

May very well become for fossil fuels what Fast Food Nation was to food or High and Mighty to SUVs. Publishers Weekly Brilliant The Baltimore Sun A stunning piece of work -- perhaps the best single book ever produced about our energy economy and its environmental implications. New York Review of Books An extraordinarily clear and powerful analysis of what is arguably the most serious crisis our industrial society has ever faced. Boston Herald

Author Information

Paul Roberts is the author of The End of Oil, a finalist for the New York Public Library's Helen Bernstein Book Award in 2005. He has written about resource economics and politics for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and Rolling Stone, and lectures frequently on business and environmental issues. He lives in Washington State.

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