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As even George W Bush acknowledged in his 2006 State of the Union message, America is dangerously "addicted to oil". In the land of freeways, Ford, and four wheel drives, the motor car is the revving heart of the American Dream. But as Ian Rutledge demonstrates in this eye-opening book, America’s love affair with the car is leading to a relentless drive for energy security, at any cost – even war.
He shows how, in a country where 52% of passenger vehicles sold each year are gas-guzzling SUVs, Pick-ups and other ‘Light Trucks’, where only 4% of the population use public transport to get to work, and one in six workers are employed in automobile-related industries, the motor car is not merely a cultural icon: it is the lynchpin of an ‘oil economy’.
Rutledge demonstrates that the US’s relationships with the rest of the world – particularly the Middle East – have been increasingly determined by the need to fuel America’s lifestyle at predictable market prices. As the energy supply crunch kicked-in at the start of the new millennium, America’s quest for energy security became ever more reckless. Rutledge argues that the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was not about freedom, WMDs, or a plot to steal Iraq’s oil: it was an attempt to establish a pliant and dependable oil protectorate in the Middle East which could underwrite the soaring demand from America’s hyper-motorised consumers.
Addicted to Oil is the first book to undertake an in-depth analysis of the motorisation of US society which explicitly links it to America’s foreign policy adventures, past and present. This new and updated edition is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand America’s international political priorities, its fraught relations with the Middle East and the future of the world’s largest economy.
Addicted to Oil is published by IB Tauris (www.ibtauris.com)
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