Includes bibliographical references (p. [317]-396) and index.

The tale of corruption and manipulation that subjected the world to an oil addiction that could have been avoided, that was never necessary, and that could be ended not in ten years, not in five years, but today. Investigative journalist Black mined corporate and governmental archives to assemble thousands of previously undiscovered documents and studies into this dramatic story. He traces a continuum of rapacious energy cartels and special interests dating back from wood to coal to oil, then to the bicycle and electric battery cartels of the 1890s, which created thousands of electric vehicles that plied American streets a century ago--but those noiseless and clean cars were scuttled by petroleum interests. Black also documents how General Motors conspired to undermine mass transit in dozens of cities and how Big Oil, Big Corn, and Big Coal have subverted synthetic fuels and other alternatives.--From publisher description.