****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
It is a shame that this book has been allowed to go out of print. Reading this you understand WWII in a different way. Just some quick examples that I was unaware of prior to picking this up:- One of Germany's primary objectives in invading Poland was to secure her oil wells- Italy's military failings were driven largely by her inadequate energy supplies- The Japanese invasion of Manchuria was largely about coal- Free French fought the Vichy French to prevent Germany from using Syria as an avenue to obtain Persian and Iraqi oil- The RAF victory in the Battle of Britain was as attributable to 100 octane fuel vs. Luftwaffe 87 octane fuel as the impact of RDFAs you read through this book you begin to appreciate how oil supply impacted nearly every operation, tactical planning, and strategic decision making throughout the course of the war. Highly readable, fascinating, well-cited, and a scary harbinger of how vulnerable modern society is to oil shortages. The book ends by stating that world oil supplies will be depleted by 2045 but surely we will have figured out a replacement energy source long before then. This optimistic assessment probably seemed more realistic when written in 1987 than it does to me now in 2012...Seek this one out. You will not regret the purchase or the time spent digesting it.
