Rating: 
Summary: One of the best economic history books around.
Review: If more people were to read this book, the world would be a better place. If you are going to read just one economic history book this year, than look no further. Yergin's history is accurate, insites are educational, and story is amazing. This book should be read by every international businessperson.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointingly pulpy tome.
Review: The trend toward authorial self-glorification has gone too far when the back cover of a book reads: 'Daniel Yergin is an authority on world affairs'. What's next? An Expert on Matters Pertaining to the Universe? Considering his exalted position in the world, this is a remarkably mediocre book, though there are details worth pondering, such as the irony of Japan powering its Pearl Harbor raid with oil imported from California. Worse than that, and more sobering, is the realization that Japan subjugated Taiwan, China, and other parts of Asia over the course of four decades with oil from California. Millions of lives were destroyed, but the oil spigot was not shut off until July of 1941. Why? Roosevelt did not want to give Japan a pretext for attacking the East Indies. Yergin relates this astounding spinelessness without a hint of irony, as though it were a perfectly good excuse for supplying a fascist power with the means to mass murder. Yergin misses the boat entirely when it comes to the price drop of the mid-eighties, claiming the Saudis flooded the market to gain market share and that George Bush went from place to place as the 'point man' for the Reagan administration arguing for a price floor for oil. Nonsense. Ronald Reagan's goal was the destruction of the Soviet Empire, and one of his key strategies was to take away the Russians' source of hard currency: the sale of oil. Every one dollar drop in the price of crude deprived the Soviets of billions of dollars of revenue, revenue that their own paraplegic of an economy could never hope to generate on its own. If there was any 'point man' for the administration in the Middle East, it was William Casey, who guaranteed the Saudis' security against Marxist revolutionaries and regional dictators like Saddam. In exchange, the Saudis flooded the market with oil. This not only deprived the Soviets of real money, it also gave Americans the equivalent of a tax cut. Is it just coincidence that the Soviet Union began to collapse just a few months later? Just coincidence that the US saved the Saudis and Kuwait from the fourth largest army in the world, when just a few years earlier these same Arab sheikhs were universally reviled for having us over a barrel? Also lacking in this very thick book is any serious technical discussion of oil, theories of exploration, pros and cons of new technologies...In place of this, there is seemingly endless talk of contracts, and, even more mind-numbing, negotiation of contracts, interlarded with impertinent anecdotes about people who wandered in and out of the industry. Yergin devotes a lot of space to rehashing trivia about Rockefeller and cliches about Americans and their love of cars, material that has been presented elsewhere so many times as to be almost common knowledge. In a book that is ostensibly about oil and money and power, almost nothing is said about the governments of Europe and their hyper-taxation of oil or what their goals are and whether they've been attained. One looks in vain for any mention of the natural gas or propane or diesel or asphalt or plastic industries. Overall, The Prize resembles a mass of articles from Newsweek and Time: flaccid, insipid, superficial, slick. This would not surprise me if it were the work of anyone other than 'an authority on world affairs'.
Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive treatise on the history of the oil industry
Review: It is an masterpiece on the history of the oil industry, giving a complete account of the political factors that have affected the industry since its birth in Titusville, PA.
Rating:
Summary: Restored my interest in the old book reading habit of mine
Review: The last five or six books that I have read were so boring that I had lost interest in book reading habit of mine. The first 100 pages of this book are fabulous. Others are excellent. It was gifted to me by my nephew because I had stopped buying books but having read this, it seems that a fresh interest in books has been enkindled in my mind. The authors grip over the subject is unbelievable. I have yet to read such an interesting book.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent read
Review: This book has it all. You often forget you are reading a non-fiction book. Follow the oil industry though time two world wars and plenty of conflicts. Along the way you will meet a plethora of intersting characters, discover a world of intrigue, espionage and corruption all in the first hundred pages. The best part is it's all true.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most interesting books I've read
Review: Documents the oil industry since the late 19th centure until the gulf war. Early history is gripping, paricularly the author's insights into the people. Less interesting towards the end as the author tends more to chronicle changes in oil prices.
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Summary: A personal interest in the book
Review: My Great-Grandfather is Sir Henri Deterding, so I bought and read this book to concentrate on his part in the oil industry. The reader from Seattle was definitely correct in saying that it isn't light reading, but if one is interested in the oil business or any other subject raised by the book, it will be found to be compulsive reading
Rating:
Summary: A lenthy socio-political historical narritive
Review: The Prize is a lengthy historical narrative. "Historical" means that the book concentrates on politics and social implications, with minimal attention to technological developments (i.e., viturally no mention of the science or technology of oil production). "Narrative" means that it isn't always specified exactly who did what when, and coverage is erratic and fagmented. So, while fascinating, this is not a reference. The reader does not get a reasonably complete history of any specific oil company or producing area.
Rating:
Summary: Mandatory reading for anyone with an american dream.
Review: THE PRIZE... is surely one to your eyes on. It depicts the ever issue of our American history from behind the lines of traditional american knowledge. It lassos the back walls of the WORLD WARS to enlighten us on the real issues at hand. The petroleum wars are what our families have been enduring. Petroleum that allows us to travel the distance to and from work then into the entrails of relaxation and entertainment. The Petrol wars and the big dogs that weild the power around them have long been the major focus of our lives. Until we read such a book as this or experience the environs of OIL and MONEY at close hand, we will cntinue to walk in the dark. Every highschool and college business, economics and history course should make it mandatory reading.
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Summary: Brings history to life and relates it all to Oil
Review: I loved this book. I was amazed to see the tie-in of Oil to so much of 20th century history. The authors do a superb job of bringing the characters to life. I don't think I'll ever look at Standard service station sign the same way again.
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