Long, but soooooo good. Lots of people write books like How Soccer Explains the World, which you read and think, "That was cute, but soccer doesn't ACTUALLY explain the world." The thing is, to hear Yergin tell it, oil actually DOES explain the world, at least for the last 150 years, and I believe him. Extremely well researched and written, but also surprisingly lively and imbued with humor as well. Kudoes to Yergin for doing so well with a topic that's potentially so dry.

(It won the 1992 Pulitz More...

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 ar More...

"Yet, despite all the controversies, the fundamental fact was that the Marshall Plan made possible and pushed a far-reaching transition in Europe - the change from a coal-based economy toward one based on imported oil. The short supplies of coal, compounded by labor strife and strikes in the mining industry, gave powerful impetus to that change. 'It is not a joyful thing, but it is a national necessity to import more oil,' Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Dalton, told Marshall. Govern More...

As the title suggests, this book is not just about the history of oil. It's about how oil translates into money, and how a whole cast of characters and countries have used both to wield power. If you're willing to slog through the almost 800 pages of density, it's well worth it. Unlike other nonfiction told through one lens, where that lens is taken as a primary historical game changer, with oil it's pretty convincing. It turns out oil is just not another commodity. I know, you already know that More...

What a terrific work! The first thing is the quality of Yergin's writing. (Funny thing: In nearly 800 pages, I found only two typos--both within a few sentences of each other on p. 708.) This is the comprehensive overview of how politics has intensified the boom and bust cycle of oil's discovery and production. There are terrific biographical sketches of all the major figures: John D. Rockefeller, Ida Tarbell, Calouste Gulbenkian, J. Paul Getty, Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, T. Boone Pickens, George More...

An 800-page history of oil, the most important commodity in the modern world. Although petroleum was known to the ancients, its modern history began in 1859 in Pennsylvania when it came to be extracted commercially and processed into kerosene for nighttime illumination. When this market started getting saturated, the invention of the internal combustion engine created a new one. John D. Rockefeller monopolized the oil market in the United States, at one point getting the railroads to pay him a More...

As a history and energy enthusiast I simply adored this mammoth of a book (warning: this book is both huge and has small print. If this intimidates you stear clear because each page is chock full of fascinating and detailed knowledge and stories). What I particulalry liked about it was the level of detail Yergin went into explaining the dyanmics of the oil market thorughout its existence, the major players that moved those markets, and the reasons behind why they made the decisions they did. It More...

This Pulitzer Prize-winning epic work of non-fiction dives deep into the history of oil exploration beginning with its discovery in Pennsylvania. It draws a portrait of the entrepreneurs who brought maturity, innovation, technology and finance to this burgeoning industry which dominates so much of our economic landscape. It's impressive how much the need for oil to drive weaponry in the national defense of so many nations played such a major role as an impetus for the growth of this business. It More...

I wish I had read this book earlier in life. High schools should teach this material in history class. Makes one think about geopolitics, natural resources, economics, government, regulation, and so many other questions. History of the Middle East and Saudia Arabia/OPEC ... history of Standard Oil ... the World Wars ... just amazing.

This is certainly a westernized view of the Oil story but -- at least for me -- it generally made enough of an effort to show the different sides of major conflicts. More...

I had been wanting to read this for a long time (7 years or so) and when it was finally available on kindle I went for it. It was well worth reading and will be part of the syllabus for my course on history through the lens of economics but I feel I struggled with it more than I should. Maybe it is because I was anticipating it for so long but I do blame myself, not the book.

One real question it raises is how much of the great economic progress over the last 150 years is due to oil. definitely More...

Great book about the history of oil, starting in Pennsylvania in the 1800's to present day. Starts with Standard oil dominance in the industry, through other countries starting to see the potentian and strategic need for oil. Then the economic crisis as the middle east wakes up to the fact we are exploiting their valuable assets to the hodgepodge that the world configuration of which companies and countries control, find, distribute the oil. The writing is excellent and the story compelling. For More...

Oil is the thread connecting 130 years of global history through such characters as John D. Rockefeller, Harry Sinclair, Winston Churchill, King Faisal, Warren G. Harding, T.E. Lawrence and many more. Our oil addiction stemmed from the discovery of oil "seep fields" (think of teh Beverly Hillbillilies "bubblin' crude") in Western Pa.

The original oil boom sought to exploit kerosene as an improvement over whale oil burning in lamps. Oil fever waxed and waned until the commercialization of interna More...

The Prize, by Daniel Yergin covers the entire history of the oil industry from its inception in Titusville Pennsylvania, includes John D. Rockefeller's rise to power and the Arab nation’s rise to self-control over their own oil industry. While the over 900 page text was the anchor in a graduate history course that I recently completed, It is a great source for many historical events including Japan’s rise to power and the conflicts with the United States leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor More...

In its 800 pages The Prize begins to get a bit repetitive. This isn't strictly Yergin's fault - the history of the oil industry is itself repetitive. Still, from a reader's perspective it's not particularly edifying to spend ten pages on yet another story of gritty oil men who defied standard wisdom to drill in a place nobody thought had oil and then struck - you guessed it - oil!

I did find it amusing to read the utterly deadpan, confident claims of academics from 1860 on insisting that (a) plac More...

This book covers the history of oil. Some have called it a Whig history, but I just found it to be an extraordinarily fascinating read on the development of the oil industry. This would be a great book for studying commodity chains, industrial dynamics, and modern political history. What's missing? Well, more about the last 20 years would be great. An incorporation of oil industry impacts on national policy regarding pollution, peak oil arguments, and (one could argue) more information about par More...

Brilliant, fascinating, but flawed.

The book is just. too. long. The Prize is the history of the oil industry. Unfortunately, it is practically told week by week over more than a century. For a while, this is very engaging; after 500 pages (when you're still only halfway through), you're desperate for the book to pick up the pace.

Yergin deserves all the praise, awards and kudos he's received for this book--primarily because the research necessary to write it is mind-boggling. That said, it's not More...

If it wasn't 800 pages long I might have given it 5 stars - it is the quintessential history of oil, up to 1992 when it received the Pulitzer Prize. Absolutely fascinating insight into the background of the great American (and British) oil companies, the transition to the great oil producing countries (not just the Middle East, but Mexico and Venezuela and Russia), and the geo-politico-economic struggles and wars of the late 20th century. The central role of oil in the modern world, and in almos More...

I feel that I should write a massive review to do justice to this tome, but I doubt anyone would want to read that. This book could have been either much shorter or much longer; it's current length leaves me rather dissatisfied. Yergin has compiled phenomenal research and applied a creative and fascinating lens to historical events. As various players, countries, and situations enter the sphere of Yergin's history of oil, he then has to provide background on them, struggling to find the balance More...

I bought Daniel Yergin’s The Prize during one of my semi-regular fits of intellectual hunger, which often strike after I’ve read five straight books about Nazi henchman and zero books about anything relevant to today’s 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, one More...

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. W More...

I would give this six stars if I could. I hate exaggerating but I don't think I am when I say this book has changed the way I think about the past, the present, and the future. It's impossible to retain even all the broad points made in this book, and I fail to comprehend how someone could possess all of that knowledge at the same time. Many of the sub-stories fall into the "I can't believe that actually happened" category.

It is not just a story of the oil industry. It is the story of one of the More...

The Prize is an awesomely comprehensive history of oil and a convincing demonstration of how oil is inextricably tied to all parts of global politics, economy, culture, and everyday life. Starting with mid-19th century Pennsylvania and ending with the 1990s Gulf War, author Daniel Yergin takes us across an incredible array of historical events and introduces us to a wild cast of adventurers, businessmen, revolutionaries, politicians, and kings. Oil has played such a pivotal role in the last 150 More...

This book is a history of the world told through the perspective of oil - how the oil industry has shaped (and been shaped by) world events from the late 1800s to the 1990s.

Among the things I learned: the Allies probably would have lost WWII if Germany and Japan hadn't run out of oil; the Standard Oil breakup dramatically increased the value of the Standard Oil companies; U.S. "Big Oil" companies are, in reality, small players on the world market, when matched up against the state owned compani More...

An excellent and sometimes dense chronicle of the history of the oil industry: the science, the business, the politics, the wild personalities and tumultuous relationships that have made oil the elixir of economic success and harbinger of conflict. You will never look at the industry the same way again after reading this book. Yergin follows the development of the Middle East and the political environment in the U.S. and other major import nations, and brings to life the miracle of oil, captured More...

It would be difficult to overstate the importance of oil during the past 150 years of civilization. It has fundamentally changed every aspect of our lives by sparking the industrial revolution, causing unprecedented population booms, and has lead to major socio-political upheaval throughout the world.

Daniel Yergin approaches the history of oil chronologically, starting with the early history of oil and then the first discoveries in Western Pennsylvania. Using the backdrop of wars and global even More...

Yergin's classic book The Prize surveys a sweeping history of oil, and its storied relationship to War, Geopolitics, and Imperial ambitions. The strengths of the book are its thoroughly detailed accounts of events such as World War II, The Arab Oil Embargo, and the various European/American meddlings in the Middle East region. No other book takes such a comprehensive view of oil's geopolitical history, and at 800 pages this book actually seems short for such a major topic.

On the other hand, ther More...

Well, to be fair, it is an 800-page 5-lb tome of a book. So it's not for the faint of heart. But if you can screw up the courage, it's without a doubt worth it.

In reading the book, one gains a renewed appreciation for the material factors that shaped and continue to shape our domestic and international landscape. The analysis of oil's critical role in WWII is fantastic. The history of the battles between oil companies and oil-producing nations, oil companies and oil-importing nations, and import More...

I cannot say enough good things about this book. I plead with you, nay, beg you: read it.

This is, truly, a "must read." It is a history book, but a vibrant, stunning, at times almost unbelievable one.

If you haven't figured it out already, the world runs on oil, and has for a while now. And will continue to do so. It influences everything, and has played what was to me a surprisingly pivotal role in World War 2.

How can you claim to care about current events, issues, the war in Iraq, terrorism, et More...

A history of oil and its rise to the most important commodity in the world over the last century-plus. Yergin, the CEO/founder of Cambridge Energy Associates, does a masterful job of chronicling oil and its ongoing effects on history, particularly since the first successful well in Pennsylvania by "Colonel" Edwin Drake in 1859,the first true gushers at Spindletop near Beaumont, TX, in 1901, through exploration and discoveries in the Middle East starting in the '30s, the second world war, and bey More...

Easily one of the best books I have ever read, and one that I learned the most from. The main reason is, besides that it is excellently written, my interest in the subject. The Price gives you the history of oil. I read a maximum of 1 chapter/day and I took breaks when I felt that I wasn't completely focused.



Oil has formed history unlike any other commodity and forms part of our life unlike any other commodity. The world wars, plastics, travel, fertilizers, the hydrocarbon man the list goes on More...