The Prize

Is the grand tradition of epic storytelling. The Prize tells the panoramic history of oil and the struggle for wealth and power that has always surrounded oil. It is a struggle that has shaken the world economy, dictated the outcome of wars, and transformed the destiny of men and nations The Prize is as much a history of the modern world as of the oil industry itself, for oil has shaped the politics of the twentieth century and has profoundly changed the way we lead our daily lives. The canvas is enormous from the drilling of the first well in Pennsylvania through two great world wars to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

The Prize reveals how and why oil has become the largest industry in the world, a game of huge risks and monumental rewards. Oil has played a critical rode in world events, from Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and Hitler's invasion of Russia to the Suez crisis and the Yom Kippur War. It has propelled the once poor nations of the Middle East into positions of unprecedented world power. And even now it is fueling the heated debate over energy needs versus environmental protection. With compelling narrative sweep. The Prize chronicles the dramatic and decisive events in the history of oil. It is peopled by a vividly portrayed gallery of characters that make it a fascinating story-not only the wildcatters, rogues, and oil tycoons, but also the politicians and heads of state. The cast extends from Dud Joiner and Doc Lloyd to John D Rockefeller and Calouste Gulbenkian, and from Winston Churchill and the Sand to George Bush, the oil man who became President, and Saddam Hussein.

It is a momentous story that needed to be told, and no one could tell it better than Daniel Yergin. Not only one of the leading authorities on the world oil industry and inter- national politics, Yergin is also a master storyteller whom Newsweek described as "one of those tare historians who can bring the past to life on the page." He brings to his new book an expert's grasp of world events and a novelist's indeed, a psychologist's gift for understanding human character. After seven years of painstaking research and with unparalleled access to the sources, Daniel Vergin has written the definitive work on the subject of oil. The Prize is a book of extraordinary breadth, riveting excitement- and great importance. It may well be described as the story of the twentieth century.