Book excerpt: Gerald D. Nash offers a balanced survey on American oil policies over a seventy-five year span, and places in historical perspective the controversies of government- business relations that have resulted from oil depletion and surplus allowances. Focusing on a single industry, Nash provides a valuable study on the government's role in private economic activity. He concludes that Americans have given the government great power in regulating the nation's industries, and in particular, as they relate to defense considerations, and the laws of supply and demand within American borders, and internationally.