Although we know that black holes are characterized by a temperature and an
entropy, we do not yet have a satisfactory microscopic ``statistical
mechanical'' explanation for black hole thermodynamics. I describe a new
approach that attributes the thermodynamic properties to ``would-be gauge''
degrees of freedom that become dynamical on the horizon. For the
(2+1)-dimensional black hole, this approach gives the correct entropy. (Talk
given at the Pacific Conference on Gravitation and Cosmology, Seoul, February
1996.)Comment: 11 pages, LaTe
