"[The Groundwork Guides] are excellent books, mandatory for school libraries and the increasing body of young people prepared to take ownership of the situations and problems previous generations have left them." -- Globe and Mail

Oil, our main source of energy, underlies the world's economy. In the twentieth century its availability and relatively low price allowed for the industrial growth and development of the world's leading economies. The new rapidly developing giants, India and China, want access to the same possibilities. But today we know that cheap, easily accessible oil supplies are dwindling, and we are beginning to recognize the true cost to the world's environment of our profligate use of this form of energy.

As Oil shows, a substantial portion of the world's remaining supply lies in countries whose interests are not identical with those of the major industrial powers.