The Prize : The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power (1991)

In today's world, you have to understand the history of oil. This book reads like a novel. You can't put it down -- and it provides an important background to all energy discussions today. ( )

Astonishing history of oil - the substance which drives the modern world economy. How it affects wars, economies, society, how nations rise and fall and fortunes are made and lost. A fundamental book for understanding a large portion of modern society. ( )

A brilliant analysis of the quest for oil and subsequent empire the resulted. ( )

As has been said for two decades now, it reads like a biography. Of a buccaneer. With historical and economic context and the development of technology adding to the excitement. It helps that so many of these oil men were so eccentric. Who knew that J Paul Getty would make Howard Hughes appear conventional?

I've read a fair amount about Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Shah's reign, etc., yet reading the history again thru the oil politics lens made me see it all differently. Who knew that the Saudis were so reasonable (and the Shah and Mossadegh so comparatively dense)? During the heights of OPEC's power, the Saudis (well, mostly one Western-educated envoy) always understood that jacking up prices so high could disrupt the consuming industrialized countries' economies with disastrous blowback on the suppliers.

Mine is the early 1990s' edition; is the 2008 edition an update or reissue? Because this is a cliff-hanger. ( )

The subtitle is appropriate, the oil, money, and power prize is the epic story of the great game played by the leading powers in the acquisition of a carbon based energy source.