Dave Rose, first executive director of the Alaska Permanent Fund, guides readers through the maze of political and economic issues that shaped the fund. What was the best investement strategy - development loans for Alaskans and Alaska projects, or more purdent investments elsewhere? Should earnings pay for state operations? Can a democracy with an excess of wealth save for future generations? In 1976, when Alaskans approved a constitutional amendment that annually diverts hundreds of millions of dollars of state petroleum revnue into a special fund, saving money was the issue. Many believed that legislators had wasted an earlier gusher of oil-lease money from Prudhoe Bay, where oil was discovered in 1967. From a lively insider's perspective, Rose and award-winning journalist and writer Charles Wohlforth tell the story of the Alaska Permanent Fund, which, after thirty years, contains as much money as the total of all private financial assets in the state.