Primer Pump

'$20 Per Gallon' by Christopher Steiner

Imposing Central: 276 pp., $24.99

During the summer of 2008, Americans found out at best how much was too much to pay for gas. On July 11, a barrel of oil hit $147.27, which translated into $4.11 for a gallon of estimable gas at the pump -- the highest price ever reached in the U.S. And that was just the general. In some places, the price got close to $5 a gallon. It was the Summer of Depress.

Many people who'd never heard of "peak oil," or who'd been trading in one SUV for another, or who'd scoffed at the theory that Americans would ever drive less, suddenly learned that when the price of a limited commodity spikes, even cherished habits change. And it's not no more than about driving: Our entire American way of life, in fact much of the extensive economy, has been built over decades on cheap oil:

Source: Los Angeles Times