part II of an edited work published by Plenum Press in 1983, "Polymer Applications of Renewable-Resource Materials. " To that extent, about half of the authors are the same. However, their papers present an update of their research three years later. The other half of the authors are entirely new. Bo~h of these books grew out of symposia sponsored by the Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering Division of the American Chemical Society. The papers for the present book are based loosely on a symposium held at the Miami Beach meeting in April, 1985. Unfortunately, interest in polymers from renewable resources fluctuates with the price and availability of petroleum oil. At the time of writing this preface, the price is low, and appears to be headed lower still.