The Prize

In this summary you will learn

• How the global oil business evolved
• How driven men and their discoveries formed the major oil companies
• What role oil plays in world events

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Why you should read The Prize

This significant tome is Daniel Yergin’s fascinating, 1992 Pulitzer prize-winning account of the personalities, politics, adventures and misadventures behind the evolution of the ruthless global oil business. This authoritative, intelligent and highly entertaining book reports on the past, present and future of the commodity that shapes the world power struggle. Yergin delves knowledgeably into fulcrum events. For example, shortly before World War I, Winston Churchill made the fateful decision to convert British navy’s fuel from coal to Iranian oil. This decision set off the modern Western quest for Middle Eastern oil. The world is still feeling its wrenching impact, and Yergin shows how and why. getAbstract finds that this book provides an essential context for understanding today’s international conflicts.

About the Author

Daniel Yergin heads an international energy consulting firm. A former lecturer at the Harvard Business School and at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School, he co-authored the bestseller Energy Future. His book Shattered Peace is a classic history on the origins of the Cold War.