The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power
Written by Daniel Yergin
Narrated by Bob Jamieson
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
Now with an epilogue that speaks directly to the current energy crisis, The Prize recounts the panoramic history of the world’s most important resource—oil. Daniel Yergin’s timeless book chronicles the struggle for wealth and power that has surrounded oil for decades and that continues to fuel global rivalries, shake the world economy, and transform the destiny of men and nations. This updated edition categorically proves the unwavering significance of oil throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first by tracing economic and political clashes over precious “black gold.”
With his far-reaching insight and in-depth research, Yergin is uniquely positioned to address the present battle over energy which undoubtedly ranks as one of the most vital issues of our time. The canvas of his narrative history is enormous—from the drilling of the first well in Pennsylvania through two great world wars to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Operation Desert Storm, and both the Iraq War and current climate change. The definitive work on the subject of oil, The Prize is a book of extraordinary breadth, riveting excitement, and great value—crucial to our understanding of world politics and the economy today—and tomorrow.
Daniel Yergin
Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates and the Global Energy Expert for the CNBC business news network, is a highly respected authority on energy, international politics, and economics. Dr. Yergin received the Pulitzer Prize for the number one bestseller The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, which was also made into an eight-hour PBS/BBC series seen by 20 million people in the United States. The book has been translated into 12 languages. It also received the Eccles Prize for best book on an economic subject for a general audience. Of Dr. Yergin’s subsequent book, Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy, the Wall Street Journal said: “No one could ask for a better account of the world’s political and economic destiny since World War II.” This book has been translated into 13 languages and Dr. Yergin led the team that turned it into a six-hour PBS/BBC documentary — the major PBS television series on globalization. The series received three Emmy nominations, a CINE Golden Eagle Award and the New York Festival’s Gold World Medal for best documentary. Dr. Yergin’s other books include Shattered Peace, an award-winning history of the origins of the Cold War, Russia 2010 and What It Means for the World (with Thane Gustafson), and Energy Future: The Report of the Energy Project at the Harvard Business School, which he edited with Robert Stobaugh.
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Reviews for The Prize
46 ratings13 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In 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.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Took me a year plus to finish this massive book. It is readable, interesting and well balanced history of oil. The first three sections I found more engaging than the second half sections.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Informative book.. Corrected some wrong ideas I had about middle eastern oil problems.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent!!!! Great for understanding the 20th century. Would recommend it as class reading at both high school and college level.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really enjoyed this book. I'm young enough that most of the history presented was new and quite enlightening, especially in terms of our modern day Iraq War. It's a dense read in that I kept wanting to go off and read other books as tangents in order to fully understand what was being presented, but, alas, there's only so much time in the day and way too much good stuff out there to read. I end up with that "I'm just scratching the surface" feeling. I have all this new insight, but man, it would be nice to read other related books in order to feel more balanced and confident with the material.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yergin has amassed a great collection of facts and brought them together well into a story which is a quick and interesting read. Definitely required reading to learn about the industry and the unique resource that drives it.There are several problems with the book however. The first and most glaring is Yergin's proselytizing mission for neoliberalism. Everything neoliberal is good and everything else is denounced as bad. Neoliberal theories are applied as law throughout the book.There is a gap in coverage of Soviet enterprises throughout the cold war. The typical work around for Yergin is to ignore that sector of the world with a description of what was going on in the "free world" instead.Finally, the book also misses the importance of King Hubbert's work on peak oil. Given that oil was already well understood and resources well characterized at the time of publication, this is an oversight.Still, despite the drawbacks, this is an important and recommended work.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fascinating but long and sometimes heavy reading.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Its all about oil! Very well documented and written book on the history of oil usage and profiteers around the world and especially in America.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5After all these years, Yergin's book is still quoted as the definitive source of information on the oil industry. I read this book when it first came out and have referred back to it many times.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5This isn’t aligned with chapters in the book. I’m deaf and must follow along with the audio. ?
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great history of the oil business. For the first time I understand the full impact of oil on modern society; and I understand the full impact of forces of modern capitalism - the power, the innovation and drive to succeed, the short-sightedness and the capacity for blind panic. Great read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As 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.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astonishing 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.