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

Daniel Yergin

4.42 · Rating details · 8,933 ratings · 775 reviews

The rich and compelling story of global oil--the intrigue, the adventure, and the international politics that shaped our modern world, by the bestselling author of Shattered Place and Energy Future.

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Hardcover, 876 pages

Published January 15th 1991 by Simon & Schuster

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Jul 05, 2011 Matt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history

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

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Jul 15, 2007 Ryan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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

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Jul 25, 2007 Naeem rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: all people who can read

Shelves: mustreads

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 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 are spectacular. Yergin shows that much of the strategy of all sides was getting access to oil fields.

In addition this is the book that got me to take global warming seriously. Not that this was Yergin's intent.

Finally, there some good theoretical material here as well. The particularities of the commodity are grounded on the fact that right from the start of oil's history, the problem for capitalists is that there is too much oil! Yergin thus confirms over and over what Timothy Mitchell argues in his article "McJihad" -- that a glut of oil necessitates the creation of cartels that can reduce the quantity of oil on the world market. Only reduced quantities can sustain profits. (See A Century Of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order by F. William Engdahl, who argues that this is way the creation of OPEC was okayed by oil corporations and the US government.)

This can be a mind blowing read if you can filter out Yergin's glorification of oil capitalists -- as individuals and as a collectivity.

Ironically, Yergin does not argue for free markets because this would mean an oil glut, low oil prices, and limited profits for oil companies. What this teaches us is that corporations and their spokespersons are too smart to promote free market ideology in their plans and actions but smart enough to spout that as their rhetoric. Corporate socialism (that is what a cartel is, no?) for the super rich and free markets for the rest of us.)

In this sense, Yergin is the honest voice of oil corporations. He argues for the all the good oil companies create even if that means that they have to violate free market ideology. ...more

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Jan 19, 2010 Alec rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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 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. We live in the Age of Oil and, as such, this history of oil becomes the history of the world as we know it. From the World Wars to the oil crisis to the constant flux of oil prices, Yergin dives into the truth behind this complex and critical phenomena in a way that is completely engaging and rife with amusing detail.

There is far too much information to summarize in a review, so I won't even attempt, but I will say that the first half of the book was the most entertaining. The explosion of oil exploration with the law-less, wildcatting passion of the fortune-seeking oil men was incredible to read about and contrast with the nationalized, highly bureaucratic oil industry today. Then to see this era capped by the World Wars and oil's scale-tipping effects was riveting in a patriotic way. At one point, I definitely started chanting "USA! USA!" under my breath in a Seattle restaurant. Happy Hour is dangerous.

The critical relationship between access to oil and national security (not to mention preservation of way of life) is a theme throughout The Prize. As I read on, I had an interesting thought. Back when the Iraq War (the most recent one) was at its controversial apex, I remember people screaming things along the lines of "this war is only about oil!" and things of that nature. I don't have any interest in getting into the question of whether or not that war was justified, but let's just say for a second that those people were right, and that war was about oil. Is that an inherently bad or immoral reason for a war? Oil is the key to our way of life. Revolutions and wars tend to happen when one group's way of life is threatened or restricted (in reality or simply perception) by another. I don't know the answer, but the thought was interesting.

It is a daunting task, without question, but I assure you this book is worth the time. If anyone does decide to pick it up, I recommend grabbing a copy with the updated epilogue, where Daniel Yergin discusses everything that's happened in the last 20 years. It's not as detailed as the rest of the book, but his insight is still appreciated. Good luck to you all. If you need me, I'll be at Jack in the Box...perhaps a more formidable adversary after all. ...more

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Apr 06, 2020 Steve rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I’ve been thinking of reading Mr. Yergin’s work since it was first published, though its length proved a mighty and consistent deterrent for nearly three decades. It is a long tug, that’s for sure. Mr. Yergin does a superb job with this history of the petroleum industry. I leave this work mindful of the randomness, the chaos in our world. Folks who were at the right place at the right time are today lionized, their names now adorn the entrances to buildings at coveted universities and are affixe ...more

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Sep 21, 2018 Mehrsa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Really great history of the middle east and oil exports. It's so easy to forget how shocking the embargos and the price rises were in the US and how political the issue of oil became here. It's still the case that oil prices are indicators, but they've come under control. I wonder if the cost has been worth it. Sanctions on Iran, buddying up with the Saudis, endless war? Seems like American and Middle Eastern politics would be a lot less heated if we could all find a different way to run our mac ...more

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Sep 16, 2018 Asif rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: business

An excellent and entertaining book on 150 years history of Oil and its impact on history.

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Jun 04, 2018 Boudewijn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: english, downloaded, non-fiction, on-ipod, audible, audio

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 firs ...more

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Jan 10, 2021 Alex rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book is 200 years of current events as told by oil. It really is that ambitious. The sheer scale of Yergin's endeavor means that he must move along—whole theaters of war are covered in only a handful of pages, for example. That constant change in subject matter makes it difficult to settle into a flow of reading. It's start-and-stop, constantly adjusting to a new frame, as a new storyline begins every few pages. Still, they're good stories. I had a lot of fun picking my way through. ...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Anna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, environment, history

Neither of the novels I’m currently reading is really going anywhere, so I started reading a history of the oil industry instead. As I’d expected, it was totally riveting. I find the role of oil in economic, political, and environmental development fascinating, so clearly was predisposed to like it. The book sustained my interest, even when recounting the technicalities of oil company mergers, through the use of a high quality journalistic approach. Each chapter began with a character vignette o Neither of the novels I’m currently reading is really going anywhere, so I started reading a history of the oil industry instead. As I’d expected, it was totally riveting. I find the role of oil in economic, political, and environmental development fascinating, so clearly was predisposed to like it. The book sustained my interest, even when recounting the technicalities of oil company mergers, through the use of a high quality journalistic approach. Each chapter began with a character vignette of some key figure, before explaining the bigger strategic picture. Whenever this wider picture started to pall, a new personality was introduced and their important role explained with the help of amusing anecdotes. Such a structure worked beautifully to convey a complicated and lengthy history entertainingly, without sacrificing density and rigour.

The whole book was compelling, but I would single out for particular praise the chapters on the two World Wars and how the role of oil differed in each. Oil utterly transformed the nature of war and its availability did much to determine who won and who lost. I hadn’t previously realised, for instance, that Japan’s defeat in the Second World War was precipitated by total oil deprivation. Nor that in the Pearl Harbour attack the fuel stores of the US fleet were not destroyed - which would have placed America in a much more fragile position in the Pacific. Oil came to be equated with mobility in society generally, but the shift was more striking and sudden in conditions of war. The First World War was largely static and began at least with the expectation that movement of troops would be by horse or train. By contrast, the Second World War involved near-constant and massive movements of troops, materiel, and battle lines, all powered by oil.

The genesis and fractious history of OPEC was also very well-told and informative. I’d wanted to know more about the extent to which OPEC has, at various times, been able to set world oil prices. Yergin demonstrates that its power has waxed and waned, whilst the structure of the world oil industry has altered considerably in the second half of the twentieth century. In fact, the only quibble I really have with this book is that the edition I read was published in 1993 and there have been massive oil-related changes since then. For a start, prices. When this was published, the record peak price for a barrel of crude was around $40; in 2008 it exceeded $100. According to Bloomberg, today a barrel of Brent crude would cost you $113. I’d love to read Yergin’s analysis of the twenty-first century price increases, so will try and get hold of his later book The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World. That should also include more detail on the environmental aspects of oil dependence, which this book only touches on briefly. Really, you have to be impressed with a densely printed 800 page non-fiction book that not only holds your attention but leaves you wanting more. ...more

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Nov 24, 2014 Nick Black rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: important, i-heart-war, incredibly-large, read-in-nyc, likely-reread

750 pages of pretty dense prose, originating in Pennsylvania, spanning the globe (you'll come out knowing more than you did going in about venezuela, bahrain, and azerbaijan) and ending on the shiite plains of iraq's central euphrates region in 1991 (an epilogue addresses the period ending in the second gulf war, but is cursory at best). characters of all ethnicity and nomenclature enter, live for a few pages, and then exit, sometimes referred to again fifty pages later. switches from backroom i 750 pages of pretty dense prose, originating in Pennsylvania, spanning the globe (you'll come out knowing more than you did going in about venezuela, bahrain, and azerbaijan) and ending on the shiite plains of iraq's central euphrates region in 1991 (an epilogue addresses the period ending in the second gulf war, but is cursory at best). characters of all ethnicity and nomenclature enter, live for a few pages, and then exit, sometimes referred to again fifty pages later. switches from backroom industry intrigue to global strategic strategy to wildcat drillers from chapter to chapter.

most striking was the lesson yergin drills home: oil is a strategic asset, unlike most commodities, and thus governments can't ignore it. the american military is the strongest in the world, but it runs on oil. military operations require tremendous drawdowns of stocks, and the ability to move them. power projection, barring nuclear weapons, is limited by where one can deliver oil, and the bandwidth of that delivery. without oil, your nuclear-powered carriers can get somewhere, but your planes can't fly. your trucks can't move materials, your tanks can't roll, and your men are stuck walking. my conclusion: our operations in the middle east were most certainly about oil, but not about oil company profits as so often accused. if we don't invade iraq, and it keeps kuwait, and prices skyrocket as a result, oil companies pass those costs on and do just fine. it's the military that eats it. keeping oil prices at historic lows for a decade may well have offset the cost of the first gulf war (i have done no analysis), especially if a major military adventure had cropped up.

also interesting was the desire of governments, even net importers like the united states, to keep oil prices above some minimum. what is that minimum? the cost of producing economically effective domestic oil. otherwise, one's domestic exploration and production infrastructure goes to seed as more cheaply-produced foreign oil swamps the market. you need that domestic production to buffer yourself against sudden foreign supply problems, even if it means oil is more expensive on average.

towards the end, he got into how the futures markets allow further buffering and hedging, at least via displacement in time, but the treatment was at a very high level and didn't satisfy me.

small details, easy to miss, are deadpanned and hilarious. did you know saddam's maternal uncle and father-in-law (what) wrote a pamphlet entitled Three Whom God Should Not Have Created: Persians, Jews, and Flies? i didn't, and my life is better for knowing it now.

worth reading, but damn it was long. ...more

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Mar 11, 2019 Tim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The idea of reading nearly 800 pages about oil might sound daunting and perhaps even boring but this is a history of the world over the past 150 years. All the major events up to our present time have centered around oil. It's such a part of life and so taken for granted that this fact is easy to forget. If we didn't have oil we would have nothing of modernity for good or bad. Yergin focuses on the bigger picture of the history of civilization and how it all ties together around oil. Forget his ...more

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Jul 27, 2016 Arun Divakar rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

The measure of success of any democratically elected government in India for a common citizen does not hinge on developmental plans, economic indicators or the advances in diplomacy. It dwells almost singly on the price of a single commodity : oil, the fluctuations of which can wreak havoc on the fiscal management of an average Indian household. Time and again, history has proved that many a voter comes to a conclusion on who to vote for by taking a look at their stance on the price of oil. As a ...more

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Apr 11, 2020 Chris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Knocked 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 g ...more

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Nov 23, 2011 Mike rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: economics, history, energy, 6-stars, reviewed, history-commodity

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

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Jan 03, 2016 A_Rathi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is the Biography of Oil.

This book should be in the reading list of every one who is interested in Politics or Business or History.

You will get detailed insights regarding the following points :-
- How oil was discovered ? Who were the men behind the discovery of Oil ?
- How were all major oil fields discovered ?
- How did all the top Oil Companies come into existence = Standard Oil, Exxon, Mobil, Aramco, Shell, Royal Dutch, etc. ?
- Who was Mr 5% ?
- How and Why Oil defined the course of World ...more

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Jan 19, 2020 James Giammona rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

One of the top ten books I've ever read! (right up there with Making of the Atomic Bomb by Rhodes).
It gives a sweeping history of the oil industry, great biographical vignettes of hundreds of the main figures and the business and nation competitions that ensued.

Oil is a high-risk, high-reward activity with intrigue, daring, luck, and violence. One of the most lasting takeaways for me was the context it gives to infrastructure and brands (like all the major gasoline companies I'm familiar with) ...more

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Sep 04, 2017 David rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book a great deal but I think I respect it even more.

Yergin presents an exhaustive historical, economic and political epic about oil and the people, companies and countries that had significant roles in its development and policies. The writing is clear and approachable and occasionally funny. (I read the kindle version and highlighted many long passages. All of those highlights are publicly available.) (The stinginess of J. Paul Getty was particularly interesting and funny.)

The ...more

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Apr 21, 2018 Corban Ford rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A history of Oil, right from its greasy beginnings. Yergin slides through the years and explains how Oil truly oozed its way in to more than a few international conflicts and around more than a few slimy characters. It'll make you think twice before you fill up your car next time.

Actually, no. No it won't.

That just felt like the thing to say.

I regret nothing. Also for what it's worth the book was made into a documentary that feels like it was made in the 1980's. Yes, I watched it alongside readi ...more

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Oct 27, 2017 Bruno Gremez rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book is a very insightful research work about the history of oil since its very beginning in places like the US and Azerbaijan in the middle of the 19th century until 1990 (the year when the book was written) when the Middle East takes central stage - again - with Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait and a US-led coalition ousting Iraqi troops out of the Emirate. Throughout many events of the 20th century, Daniel Yergin shows the strategic importance of oil in the world economy and in geopolitics This book is a very insightful research work about the history of oil since its very beginning in places like the US and Azerbaijan in the middle of the 19th century until 1990 (the year when the book was written) when the Middle East takes central stage - again - with Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait and a US-led coalition ousting Iraqi troops out of the Emirate. Throughout many events of the 20th century, Daniel Yergin shows the strategic importance of oil in the world economy and in geopolitics.
It started in the 19th century when whale oil, by definition a finite resource, was getting more expensive and petroleum became the new cheap fuel for illumination, and later for the production of electricity and as a fuel for the nascent automobile industry. Fortunes were soon made by fellows like Rockefeller who became the first American billionaire. In the beginning of the 20th century, Rockefeller had cornered the oil industry and controlled 90% of the US market. His dominant position ended with the US Supreme Court ordering in 1911 the dismantlement of his company Standard Oil. It was split into many smaller entities, some of which having survived and thrived to this day, like ExxonMobil, Chevron, etc. Oil had in the meantime already become so strategically important that many countries realised its decisive importance to win any war.
During WWII, it became soon apparent to the allies that oil was actually the Achilles heel of Germany. Germany had no oil of its own, contrary to the Soviet Union and the US. Nazi Germany tried everything to gain access to oil. It first managed to control the oil production of Romania. In 1941, Germany attacked the former Soviet Union, but German troops failed to reach the Caucasus in today Azerbaijan, where the Soviet oil production was concentrated. With the defeat in Stalingrad, Germany will have to abandon its ambition to gain access to Russian oil, and will eventually lose the entire war.
Confronted to this lack of oil, Nazi Germany had also developed the production of synthetic oil, the result of a process that consisted of transforming coal into oil. During WWII, a significant part of the German airforce was flying on synthetic oil. This led the allies to bomb in priority the synthetic fuel factories, even before the landing of Normandy in 1944, as they perfectly knew that oil was the major weakness of Nazi Germany. The lack of natural resources, especially oil, is one of the major reasons why Germany lost the war.
The decisive role that oil has played during WWII helps explain why, over the second half of the 20th century until this day, major world powers will consistently try to either control oil production, or secure in some way the support of those countries where oil is produced. Throughout major events of the 20th century, Daniel Yergin shows the strategic role that oil has been playing in geopolitics and the world economy. Oil, money and geopolitics have by now become completely intertwined.

Review by Bruno Gremez ...more

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Jul 04, 2009 Michael rated it liked it · review of another edition

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 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 internal combustion, which transformed the US in a mere decade and is still transforming the world.

The story of oil is the story of huge historical themes and events: the rise and fall and rise of monopolies in the U.S.; the Bolshevik revolution; and the colonization of "protectorates" in Mesopotamia to create states like Iraq.

Oil was the lynchpin resource of both World Wars. In WWII the Allies destroyed Rumanian oilfields in a race against time against marching Germans and Turks.

In a lesser-known variation on the Miracle of Dunkirk, the French discovered the utility of internal combustion when the military drafted thousands of Parisian cab drivers to transport troops to the front against marching Germans. Without this improvised troop movements (and yes the cabbies were encouraged to run their meters), the Germans could have easily taken the capital and possibly ended the war with a different result.

Suddenly cavalry was "out." Tanks (a code name that stuck) were invented to break the gridlock imposed by trench warfare. Internal combustion also fueled dogfights in the sky. In months airplanes went from unreliable toys to 150 mph fighting machines, which were made obsolete by a new generation of war planes in only another six months.

In WWII we outproduced the Axis as much as defeated them.

Yergin set out to depict a fascinating historical sweep through an oil-filled prism. He is partially successful. He vividly recreates characters like Rockefeller, Teddy Roosevelt, and Marcus Samuel, the founder of Shell Oil who got his start selling curios and souvenirs covered in glued-on sea shells and also became Mayor of London.

But the journey feels more episodic than sweeping as this very looonnnggg book is splintered into two- and three-page chapters, almost each commandeered by a new Superhero/Master of the Business or Political Universe. He also over-focuses on the business dealings of Big Oil, sometimes to the point of tedium but often to the exclusion of the social side of the story, such as: What was really happening in Mesopotamia while the region was being pawned between England and France? Oddly Yergin's chapter on the rise of the drive-through gas station is more compelling than his re-creation of this "Great Game" between superpowers.

Still there is much fascinating between these pages and I will soldier on through completion--I'm up to about 1928, or page 224. ...more

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Sep 24, 2013 Robert Morris rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book is fantastic. I am a bit of a history buff and have read a fair amount of it, but this book added a whole new dimension to my understanding of the past century. Petrochemicals, and the benefits and security issues that they bring have been central to the way the modern world has formed. This may seem to be an obvious statement, but it is not a story that people focus on much. Yergin has filled this gap. Vital reading.

One thing that I found particularly illuminating is the perpetual bo ...more

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Jan 20, 2015 Shashwat Sharma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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 industry ...more

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Feb 03, 2021 Mr Shahabi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A very rich informative book that trace back the trails of War all the way to the lay oil drop, nation rose and fell because of the black gold

It gives a detailed account on the men behind the curtains like Gulbankian (Mr 5%) and many other, but the bottom line is that yeah, the he goddamn imperial capitalistic greed in stealing the wealth of nations is at full exposure

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Nov 05, 2020 Perry Falsnamo rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Seems bad that he basically doesn’t mention climate change until the epilogue! It was well known in 1990!!

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Apr 30, 2020 Paul Greenpage rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Superb robin. The history of oil from 1870s to now traces the political-economic history of the 20th Century. Was tracking to 5 stars until about the 1970s, when it got bogged down in the Middle East and wasn't as interesting. WW1 and WW2 a highlight. ...more

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Nov 23, 2009 Paul Donahue rated it it was amazing

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 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 most valued commodities in human history and the significant role (understatement?) it has played in the rise and fall of nations and the conflicts between them. Its role in World War II--its impact on both strategy and tactics, as well as the outcome itself--leaves you endlessly contemplating one of the all-time greatest "What If?" hypotheticals: What if the Axis had an equal access to oil as did the US? In the postwar world, the sheer coincidence of the Middle East sitting atop the largest sources of crude in the world has forged today's geopolitical relationships, conflicts, and crises.

Crude oil has gone from simply an upgrade over whale oil as a light source to something so heavily depended upon by modern society that oil companies are considered evil if they attempt to maximize its economic value. Oil has turned numerous luxuries into necessities we feel we have a right to. If oil suddenly disappeared, I cannot even conceive how our society would reconstruct itself. Yergin calls us Hydrocarbon Man.

It has some dry moments (inevitable in 780 pages), but make sure you get a recent edition that doesn't suddenly stop in the middle of the Gulf War. You will find yourself drawn to news articles about oil and other forms of energy, and you might laugh inwardly when driving by a Shell or Texaco station, knowing of the "epic struggle" that produced it.

It has overhauled the way I think about our relationship with the Middle East today, and has me thinking a lot in how we will continue to adapt to the scarcity of these commodities in order to energize our country and the world. They say money begets power, but in many cases throughout the past 150 years, oil has begotten money, and in turn, power. I have vehemently recommended this book to at least 25 people since I started it and will continue to do so. ...more

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May 05, 2013 Ushan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: energy

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 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 royalty even if they shipped somebody else's oil, not unlike the business practices of a certain software company a century later; this monopoly was broken by the government. Oil was important in the First World War especially as the tank was invented and the airplane rose in importance. It was absolutely crucial in the Second World War. In their invasion of southern Soviet Union, the Germans captured Maikop but failed to capture Baku, and did not have enough gasoline as the Allies bombed Romanian oil fields and German synthetic oil plants. In the Libyan desert, Erwin Rommel's panzers could not advance because the Allies sank all transports carrying oil for him; in liberated France, George Patton's tanks ran out of gas before he could attack the Germans and not give them a chance to regroup. After the war, there were many oil-related smaller wars and crises. Egypt headed by Gamal Abdul Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, the main conduit of Middle Eastern oil to Europe, and the British and the French joined by the Israelis tried to seize it, but failed. Iraq headed by Saddam Hussein went to war with Iran in order to seize a disputed oil-rich region and possibly annex an oil-rich Arab-majority province of Iran; neither goal was achieved.

There are two motifs going on through this history. One is the fear that oil would soon be exhausted. This proved false each time: new fields were discovered in inaccessible parts of the world, and ways to extract more oil from a field were invented, though no one could have known this beforehand. The other is a kind of prisoner's dilemma: it is advantageous for oil producers as a group to form a cartel and restrict production, but it is advantageous for each of them to produce as much as possible; cartels have formed and have fallen apart. ...more

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Sep 17, 2007 Alex rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, oil, capitalism

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

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Sep 16, 2014 Max rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: world-history

This sweeping history of oil takes us from the first strike in Pennsylvania in 1859 to the Gulf War in 1990. Along the way we encounter personalities from John D. Rockefeller to George H. W. Bush, companies from Standard Oil to T. Boone Pickens’ Mesa Petroleum, booms and panics from Titusville Pa and Spindletop Texas to the global energy crises of the 1970’s and 90’s. If at times the detail is a bit overwhelming, it is highly instructive portraying the dynamics of oil’s impact on global economic ...more

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About Daniel Yergin

Daniel Yergin

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Daniel Yergin is the author of the new bestseller The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World which has been hailed as “a fascinating saga” about the “quest for sustainable resources of energy,” and “the book you must read to understand the future of our economy and our way of life,” not to mention “necessary reading for C.E.O.’s, conservationists, lawmakers, generals, spies, ...more

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