The Prize
The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power
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4.5 • 11 Ratings
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- £11.99
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- £11.99
Publisher Description
The Prize recounts the panoramic history of oil -- and the struggle for wealth power that has always surrounded oil. This struggle has shaken the world economy, dictated the outcome of wars, and transformed the destiny of men and nations. The Prize is as much a history of the twentieth century as of the oil industry itself. The canvas of this history is enormous -- from the drilling of the first well in Pennsylvania through two great world wars to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and Operation Desert Storm.
The cast extends from wildcatters and rogues to oil tycoons, and from Winston Churchill and Ibn Saud to George Bush and Saddam Hussein. The definitive work on the subject of oil and a major contribution to understanding our century, The Prize is a book of extraordinary breadth, riveting excitement -- and great importance.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Yergin ( Shattered Peace ), a much-quoted energy consultant, here offers a timely, information-packed, authoritative history of the petroleum industry, tracing its ramifications, national and geopolitical, to the present day. Oil, ``the world's biggest and most pervasive business,'' he shows, has played a central role in most of the major wars and many of the critical international situations of the 20th century, has changed the lives of virtually everyone on the planet and is currently at the heart of the first post-Cold War crisis of the 1990s. Yergin describes how, after an oil glut replaced the panic at the pump of the early 1980s, ``Hydrocarbon Man'' once again took petroleum for granted--only to be shattered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait this past August. Whatever the evolution of the international order, oil will remain the ultimate strategic prize, predicts the author in a book that will be widely discussed. He points out, however, that the environmental movement is gaining significant strength as more and more citizens of the world express a willingness to trade off energy production for environmental protection. Photos. Major ad/promo.
Customer Reviews
Quality book, great read
If you want to know why people and governments act the way they do then read this book and all will be explained.
Great read about oil & politics
I’ve worked in the oil industry for 35 years and reading this book has given me a great insight as to why the business has evolved over time to its present state today. When you read this book you will soon understand how money, power and politics are intertwined and how world governments have manipulated energy and its spin offs to their advantage. Yergin has done some fantastic research to put this work together; he is a skilful writer and has a very easy way of writing that keeps the reader constantly flipping the pages. A worthy Pulitzer prize winner.