Cast of characters -- Introduction: Jimmy Carter and an age of diminished expectations. The 1970s : a decade of tumult and transformation -- Americans contemplate the consequences of changed circumstances -- A presidency and a nation in crisis -- Patrick Caddell and the American spiritual crisis -- Conflicting advice for a president -- The president addresses the nation -- Conclusion -- The documents. Carter declares energy crisis the "moral equivalent of war". The energy problem, April 18, 1977 / Jimmy Carter -- The wrong war? : the case against a national energy policy, Fall 1978 / David Stockman -- The energy plague, July 2, 1979 / Tom Morganthau and others -- Carter on the Titanic : editorial, July 27, 1979 / National Review -- Religion, materialism, and leadership : traditions on which Carter drew. Democracy in America, 1835 and 1840 / Alexis de Tocqueville -- Handwritten notes on conversation with Daniel Bell at the White House, May 30, 1979 / Jimmy Carter -- The culture of narcissism, 1979 / Christopher Lasch -- Human conditions for a good society , March 25, 1979 / Robert Bellah -- Debates within the administration. Memo to the president, June 28, 1979 / Stuart Eizenstat -- Energy conservation program : memo to the president, June 28, 1979 / Esther Peterson -- Energy speech : memo to Gerald Rafshoon and Hendrik Hertzberg, June 29, 1979 / Achsah Nesmith, Walter Shapiro, and Gordon Stewart -- Memo to the president, July 3, 1979 / Hamilton Jordan -- Energy speech : memo to the president, July 4, 1979 / Walter Mondale -- How to counter OPEC, July 9, 1979 / Marshall Loeb -- Memo to the president, July 10, 1979 / Gerald Rafshoon -- Preparation and delivery of July 15, 1979, speech. Handwritten notes in preparation for speech, July 11, 1979 / Jimmy Carter -- The daily diary of president Jimmy Carter, July 15, 1979 -- Energy and national goals, July 15, 1979 / Jimmy Carter -- Reactions to the speech. The press. Conservatives. The real Jimmy Carter : editorial, July 17, 1979 / The Wall Street Journal -- Gantry on energy : editorial, August 3, 1979 / National Review -- Left. Carter's crisis : and ours : comment, September 1979 / Progressive -- Labor. Coming to grips with the energy crisis, August 1979 / AFL-CIO Federationist -- Environmentalists. Our energy future : a time to choose : editorial, September/October 1979 / Theodore A. Snyder Jr. -- Ethnic and religious groups. Two cheers for a start : editorial, July 15, 1979 / Jewish Week -- Energy sermon : editorial, July 28, 1979 / America -- Christians should lead in conservation : editorial, July 26, 1979 / Christian Index -- Letters from citizens. President's messages of 7/15/79 and 7/16/79, July 17, 1979 / Hugh Carter -- Bell, Bellah, and Lasch. A night at Camp David, July 27, 1979 / Robert Bellah -- Letter to Patrick Caddell, July 18, 1979 / Christopher Lasch -- Political opposition. Speech, November 7, 1979 / Edward M. Kennedy -- A vision for America, November 3, 1980 / Ronald Reagan -- Looking back. Speech, April 30, 2001 / Dick Cheney -- Dick Cheney and conservation, May 1, 2001 / Ralph Nader -- Misinformation and scare tactics, May 17, 2001 / Jimmy Carter -- A failure to imagine, May 19, 2002 / Thomas L. Friedman -- Appendixes: A chronology of events surrounding the energy crisis of the 1970s (1973-1981) -- Questions for consideration -- Selected bibliography.