The Prize : The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power | Daniel Yergin

The Prize : The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power | Daniel Yergin | The Prize: The Epic Quest for OIl

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The Prize : The Ep...

	The Prize : The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power Daniel Yergin Free Press, 1993 - 928 pages average customer review:based on 145 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Age of Oil

We are living in the Age of oil.

World and human civilization have experienced different "ages" such as the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Gilded Age, and so on. The 20th and 21st Centuries are indeed, the "Oil Age." We are living in it. This book is one of the most informative and relevant books published in recent years, In my opinion. This work by Daniel Yergin was and still is prescient today, in 2007. "The Prize" tells the story of where we are today, and how we got here. It also latently foresees where we're going in the future. The book doesn't tell us - we just know. We're human. This book is so comprehensive and has so much information only a small portion of it can be noted. Below relates to WWII, and former Iranian leader Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh.

"The Prize" proceeds chronologically. And within the chapters there are numerous mini-subtitles for sub-chapters that connect the big picture. The bibliography and index are excellent and can be used to tie in different figures and historical occurrences. The 'history of oil' is actually the history of the world: humankind, business, innovations, globalization, war, and geo-political power-plays. The very survival of a nation-state is based upon oil.

"The Prize" begins with tiny puddles of black, sticky, goo, in Pennsylvania in the mid 1800s. Locals collected this goo and realized its many uses. In 1859 oil was struck. Almost immediately, the wealth and power amassed from possession and control of oil was realized. The initial trust acts in the U.S. are related to the oil industry, in which Barons quickly gained gargantuan amounts of wealth and political power.

Enter WWII:

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor because of oil. Japanese conquests throughout South-East Asia and the Pacific were motivated not only by the quest for dominance but for securing oil and keeping their oil (fuel) supply lines open. Without supply lines of oil, the war machine would completely break down, as it later did (Chapter 8).

The Americans sacrificed a lot, but Japan in large part lost WWII because of its lack of fuel for planes, ships, and ground forces. Domestically, the Japanese economy collapsed because of its inability to import oil. The Kamikazes were brought into existence after the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Philippines, in 1944. Lack of oil meant lack of fighter plane fuel. Fuel supplies became so low they actually stopped training Japanese pilots at all. Pilots were ordered to "follow the leader" to the attack site because they didn't even have navigation training.

There was even an "Oil Czar" In the U.S. during World War II in PAW, the Petroleum Administration for War. The Oil Czar was Harold Ickes.

In the European Theater's Eastern Front Germany invaded Russia with Operation Barbarossa mostly to get the oil in the Caucuses (In addition to "lebensraum" and "untermensch" beliefs). In addition, a needed land-route to Iron Ore in Scandinavia via the Baltic SSR Republics was a factor. Hitler also began making synthetic oil because without enough of it Germany's war machine, domestic economy, and arms production were doomed. These synthetic oil factories were top targets in Allied bombing missions.

Oil and the Cold War World:

The Soviets dominated Eastern Europe and exerted its influence after WWII for 45 years because the Allies ran out of gasoline. When the British 3rd Army and U.S. 1st Army were advancing eastward toward Berlin chasing demoralized, retreating, and broken German troops in disarray. But because of the lack of gasoline for the Allied Armies, a million people ended up losing their lives and war was prolonged because the Germans were able to retreat and re-organize (page 388).

If someone says "it's not about the oil" today in 2007, tell them to read this book. Oil encompasses almost all things in our daily lives, whether we are are conscious of it, or not.

Oil, Military, and Economic Interests:

Democratically elected governments are overthrown by foreign governments because of oil. In 1953 Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh was democratically elected in Iran. He was an anti-communist. He didn't like the 93% to 7% profit sharing split with a British Oil company operating inside Iran. He changed it to 50-50. The CIA sponsored a coup to overthrow him. Americans were repeatedly told by the U.S. media that Mossadegh was a communist and communist sympathizer, although factually untrue. The American public believed this propaganda, according to poll results. Gullible? Mossadegh was ousted and the Shah was placed in power. Democracy has never been supported in the Middle East and it isn't now by the U.S. government. Also see the Carter Doctrine of 1980.

Most of us as individual consumers literally need oil to function. Dependence upon oil is for the continuation of the nation-state, its military machines, and domestic economy. More critical today, is that nation-states need a *sufficient* supply of it.

This is a positive book. It's a history book.

We're in the heart of the "Oil Age."

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The Prize: The Epic Quest for OIl

Outstanding history of oil politics, economics and foreign relations. Even though this book was published in 1991 the information is not stale and the information on Sunni and Shia conflicts were well known when this book was written. Yergen who is also the author of "Commanding Heights" the proclaimed PBS documentary is an excellent writer. Althought I came late to the table to read this book it is still as valuable today as it was when first published. If you are interested in oil and oil policy this is a must read.

The Prize : The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power

Excellent, well chronicled book showing the inside of the oil world history. Amazon shipment was a slick execution which makes the book more valuable..This book is a must-have for oil and gas pros.

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Amaze

This book is the better form to say what means the oil in the world. The history is well clear end real. There are many important information and who is curious or needs to know the subject this is a perfect one.

good overview of the international history of oil

This is an excellent book on the role of oil in the world economy. What makes it better than many other books is that it has a truely global view of the oil industry throughout its long history. Its also not written for experts. Its a very accessable book.

Yergin shows how America dominated the world of oil in the first half of the 20th century and how managed its decline in the second half of that century. He shows that the basic problems of the oil industry (overproduction, underproduction and voliatile prices) have consistantly repeated since the beginnings of the industry.

If there is a flaw, its that Yergin doesn't give enough coverage to the oil industry in Africa and its role in the global oil trade. It gets occasional mentions, but not the comprehensive coverage the middle east gets. The same comments apply to an extent to south america. He could have also done a better job in explaining how oil money tends to distort economies from Alaska to Norway to Saudi Arabia in the same general ways.

The final chapter of the book is dated and some of its speculation about the future didn't hold up very well. But if the reader wants an introduction into the history of the global oil business and how it affects the countries involved, this is a useful book.

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