A specialist in space law issues within the framework of international law, Tronchetti (law, Harbin Institute of Technology, China) offers a revised and enhanced version of his December 2008 Ph.D. dissertation at Leiden University, the Netherlands. The end of the Cold War means that the superpowers are no longer keeping each other in check, he points out, and the depletion of resources on Earth is tempting some to look to nearby alternatives. He is surprised that mineral exploitation of the Moon has not already begun, but argues that before it does the world powers should forge and adopt a legal framework. He discusses such topics as existing treaties, Antarctica and the International Telecommunications Union as examples of managing international areas and their limited natural resources, property rights in space, and elements of a legal regime to govern the commercial exploitation of extra-terrestrial resources. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)