The struggle for wealth and power that has surrounded oil for decades continues to shake the world economy, dictate the outcome of wars, and transform the destiny of men and nations. The Prizeis as much a history of the twentieth century as of the oil industry itself. The canvas of this 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. The cast extends from wildcatters and rogues to oil tycoons, and from Winston Churchill and Ibn Saud to George Bush and Saddam Hussein.
The definitive work on the subject of oil and a major contribution to understanding our century, The Prizeis a book of extraordinary breadth, riveting excitement -- and great importance.
Chapter 1. Oil on the Brain: The Beginning
Chapter 2. “Our Plan”: John D. Rockefeller and the Combination of American Oil
Chapter 3. Competitive Commerce
Chapter 6. The Oil Wars: The Rise of Royal Dutch, the Fall of Imperial Russia
Chapter 7. “Beer and Skittles” in Persia
Chapter 9. The Blood of Victory: World War I
Chapter 10. Opening the Door on the Middle East: The Turkish Petroleum Company
Chapter 11. From Shortage to Surplus: The Age of Gasoline
Chapter 12. “The Fight for New Production”
Chapter 14. “Friends”—and Enemies
Chapter 15. The Arabian Concessions: The World That Frank Holmes Made
Chapter 16. Japan’s Road to War
Chapter 17. Germany’s Formula for War
Chapter 18. Japan’s Achilles’ Heel
Chapter 20. The New Center of Gravity
Chapter 21. The Postwar Petroleum Order
Chapter 22. Fifty-Fifty: The New Deal in Oil
Chapter 23. “Old Mossy” and the Struggle for Iran
Chapter 26. OPEC and the Surge Pot
Chapter 28. The Hinge Years: Countries Versus Companies
Chapter 30. “Bidding for Our Life”
Chapter 33. The Second Shock: The Great Panic
Chapter 34. “We’re Going Down”
Chapter 35. Just Another Commodity?
Chapter 36. The Good Sweating: How Low Can It Go?
Chapter 37. Crisis in the Gulf