Oilcraft: The Myths of Scarcity and Security That Haunt U.S. Energy Policy

"A valuable addition to the new wave of critical studies on the history of oil and energy policy"—and a bracing corrective to longstanding myths (James M. Gustafson, Diplomatic History).

Conventional wisdom tells us that the US military presence in the Persian Gulf is what guarantees American access to oil; that the "special" relationship with Saudi Arabia is necessary to stabilize an otherwise volatile market; and that these assumptions in turn provide Washington enormous leverage over Eur...