The industrial world was built to run on cheap oil, and now the cheap oil has run out. For a while longer, the West will depend for its energy upon expensive oil –much of it obtained from sources that are geographically remote* or politically unstable. so in the near future, the world mus.t shift from oil to other sources of energy. TRANSITIONS TO ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SYSTEMS explores how such change can best be encouraged. The governments of the world, then, do not have the option of piously washing their hands of the energy crisis. They must be involved: they must pursue wise policies: and they must prove far more effective in the future than they have in the past. Through its careful analysis of past programs to promote renewable resource development, Tom Baumgartner’s new book provides the public sector with precisely the kind of guidance it needs.