Daniel Yergin
Paperback | Pages: 885 pages Rating: 4.42 | 8194 Users | 711 Reviews
Mention Epithetical Books The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power
| Title | : | The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power |
| Author | : | Daniel Yergin |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 885 pages |
| Published | : | 1993 by Free Press (first published January 15th 1991) |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. Economics. Business. Politics |
Commentary Conducive To Books The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power
The Prize recounts the panoramic history of oil -- and the struggle for wealth and 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 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.Specify Books As The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power
| Original Title: | The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power |
| ISBN: | 0671799320 (ISBN13: 9780671799328) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction (1992) |
Rating Epithetical Books The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power
Ratings: 4.42 From 8194 Users | 711 ReviewsWrite Up Epithetical Books The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power
I bought Daniel Yergins The Prize during one of my semi-regular fits of intellectual hunger, which often strike after Ive read five straight books about Nazi henchman and zero books about anything relevant to todays world. After the purchase, I put it on the shelf. And there it sat, for a long, long time. It is, after all, a tremendously big tome about oil; it does not scream out to be consumed or embraced or loved. For a long time it just sat there, on my shelf, laughing at me. Finally, oneKnocked the bastard off. The Prize is a tour de force on the history of oil from the 1850s in Pennsylvania through until the Gulf War in 1991. A Pulitzer winner for non-fiction, the book is undoubtedly well researched and written. However, as with many books on this list, The Prize is defined by its length and density. The upside is that the book is split into five sections which can actually be read in isolation (e.g. if you just wanted to understand the role of oil in WWII). This website has
Aaaand time. Take that, Prize. After a mere 2 full months, about 8 flights, and at least 2 pounds of lean muscle mass added from lifting this tome, I have finally taken down The Prize. Mr. Yergin, you are the definition of a worthy adversary, akin to the man in the black pajamas or the value menu at Jack in the Box.The Prize is a book that, upon completion, made me feel completely ridiculous for ever having an opinion on anything (literally, anything) without this base collection of knowledge.
Okay, so this is not your conventional easy read, but one that's extremely invigorating if you're interested in history. For The Prize underlines the entire history of the past one and a half centuries revolving around the one ultimate Prize - oil. There would hardly be another single book whose pages discuss people from Rockefeller to Kennedy, Roosevelt to George Bush, Stalin to Hitler to Saddam Hussein. Oh, and there's even a line about Moses and Noah's Ark! The sheer scale of the oil
Be warned that Yergin is an apologist for Oil companies and doesn't have a critical word to say about capitalism in this 800 page plus book.Nevertheless, I consider this a must read (I read it twice). First, Yergin writes like a journalist -- so the reading goes quickly and well. More important, this is a comprehensive and thorough history of the commodity oil. When you review the history of the 20th century from the lens of oil, many things change and everything deepens. The chapters on WWII
The title is a little misleading, as this is not a book about an epic quest for oil itself, but rather a description of the oil price and what caused the fluctuations. It also gives some insight in the way how the relation between the imperial powers and the oil producing nations changed during time. From having no say about their oil to actually owning the oil revenues and penetrating the Western markets higher and higher up the supply chain. Although the book is outdated (it ends with the
I read this book and the impression it left with me when I read in the 1990s that oil was a crucial but highly problematic resource. I learned that our modern world was deeply dependent on this resource and money and power flow from the control of it. Global Warming was not as prominent an issue but future depletion and geopolitical tensions generated by Oil were obvious even then. This book covers the history of this resource which today still is the main driver of today's geopolitics. Imagine
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