Review of Blowout
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Qualities
- Analytical
- Well Structured
- Background
Review
Asked to explain their success, well-paid oil executives and rich gas titans love to credit God or the “miracle” of free markets. Balderdash, retorts political commentator Rachel Maddow. In this sharply written takedown of oil and fracking behemoths, Maddow describes ExxonMobil’s Rex Tillerson cozying up to Equatorial Guinea autocrat Teodorin Obiang and Russian president Vladimir Putin. She also points the finger at Oklahoma frackers for setting off a deluge of earthquakes and using their political might to cut their tax rates.
Maddow is unapologetically critical of her subject matter: In her telling, the oil and gas industry has propped up dictators, weakened democratic institutions both at home and abroad, and engaged in a host of environment-destroying actions. Still, Maddow’s deeply researched tale shows she’s more than a TV talking head. She lays out a nuanced yarn, weighing in with the occasional snarky comment but, largely, letting the facts speak for themselves.
About the Author
American television personality Rachel Maddow is host of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC and author of the New York Times bestseller Drift. Maddow earned a doctorate in political science from Oxford University.