Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences Of America’s Growing Dependency On Imported Petroleum by Michael T. Klare makes a convincing argument about the energy crisis that is looming. It points out how the Bush administration squandered a great opportunity to change American policy. But it was clear that he was going to follow the status quo when he elected not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and called for drilling in the Alaskan Wilderness reserve. Furthermore, the ongoing military commitment to Iraq is proving to be costly in lives, finances, and political capital. Supporting unpopular regimes like that of Saudi Arabia is compromising our reputation abroad as well. Klare has a very well thought out, structured, and detailed argument about futility of the short sighted current administration’s approach to the energy crisis. He makes some very reasonable suggestions that should be taken in order for America to come to terms with its dependence on oil that will be problematic in the near future. For example: energy independence (a strategy to reduce reliance on foreign petroleum through a number of methods including alternative energy sources), a paradigm shift on how we think about Energy consumption (sooner is better than having a shift forcing us to change our ways later), and a separation of energy policy from foreign affairs (security commitments to keep oil production stable in unstable countries). A very thought provoking and disturbing book. The fact that we may see the effects of an oil shock in our lifetime is probably more likely than previously thought.