Oil is one of the biggest issues of the twenty first century. This highly topical book sets the scene, showing the impact today of the oil crisis on the Arab-Israeli conflict, American involvement in the Middle East, and in the oil rich states of the Persian Gulf. On 6 October 1973 Egypt and Syria launched an attack on Israel, and within a few days the major Arab oil producers announced their support by use of the 'oil weapon', including a boycott of supplies for countries friendly to Israel and a programme of production cuts. A few days later, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), frustrated by the lack of progress in negotiations with the oil companies, unilaterally declared a steep increase in the price of oil. The result was international panic and world recession. Crude oil prices soared by a massive fourfold in just three months. The West's vulnerability had been exposed: it was being held hostage to oil. Six years later, the Iranian Revolution triggered a further upward surge in prices. In this book, the author examines both the causes and the consequences of these events not only within the oil industry and the Middle East, but also their impact on the world economy, the role of Third World nations in the international system, and relations between the leading oil consuming nations. She demonstrates how the effects of the oil crisis lasted throughout the rest of the twentieth century and beyond. Fiona Venn is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Essex. Her many books include 'The New Deal' (1998) and 'Oil Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century' (1986).