History of Oil (HIST 4535/5535)
History of Oil (HIST 4535/5535)

History of Oil (HIST 4535/5535)

History of Oil (HIST 4535/5535)

Spring 2017  

Instructor: Dr. Phil Roberts                      

Time: T, Th, 1:20-2:35 p.m.

Place: Class will meet in Room 115 of the Half Acre Gym. Use the public (west, facing Prexy’s) entrance and once in the lobby, turn left and you’ll see a glassed-in classroom. That will be us. (Yes, with a pool side view!)

Office: 356 History Bldg.                                  

Office hours: T, 11 a.m.-noon; Wed., 1-2:30 p.m., and by appointment   

E-mail: philr@uwyo.edu 

Course Objective: This course will study the history of oil as it became an important source of energy throughout the world. We will learn about academic study through various approaches including rentier theories and the paradox of plenty. We will examine recurring themes such as boom-and-bust cycles, issues of colonialism, corporate consolidation, nationalism, and globalization. Additionally, we will study environmental concerns, many occasioned by 21st century oil development.

In this study of the history of oil, a modified comparative approach will be used, recognizing that while there may be similarities and parallels, the social, political and cultural aspects are quite different for each region. Throughout, the petroleum histories of each region will be considered in the context of important world events and issues. We will analyze oil issues, borrowing factors that can be compared and trying to understand other factors that can not. It should be emphasized that this course will NOT be taught chronologically even though that approach may be taken in the study of various specific geographical areas. (Students may notice that the professor may emphasize the history of the American West, the Persian Gulf and the Caspian regions, given the professor’s experience with oil in those areas and his historical expertise in those regions). 

Course Procedures: Success in the class will require class participation as well as extensive reading, although none of the required common readings are particularly difficult. (Most of assigned books were written during the last decade and most are written in a general narrative form, many aimed for the general audience). This course will emphasize reading these monographs and brief news articles on oil history. All readings will done in common. (Graduate students will be assigned additional separate readings). The common reading is essential for background and students are expected to have read the assignments by the Thursday indicated on the schedule. Normally, in most weeks, Tuesday of each class period will consist of a brief overview of oil history in the region under consideration for that week and/or information about current energy developments in that part of the world. On Thursday, attention will go to consideration of the assigned book. The class discussions will emphasize the main points in the common readings, but note that throughout the semester, class discussions will not be mere recapitulations of the contents of the readings. 

In addition to our common reading, throughout the semester, we will consider contemporary issues involving globalization, world politics, corporate growth, nationalism, and environmental standards as well as world and regional economics. Consequently, students will be expected to stay abreast of current energy developments in the news. Also, in the final sessions of the term, we will analyze how oil has been treated in biography, fiction and film. Throughout the semester, we will continue to develop an understanding of where the oil industry is today, internationally as well as in the U. S. and Wyoming. 

Exams: The final exam, to be administered as a take-home exam during final exam week, will be worth 50 percent of the grade. There will be no mid-term examination.

Reading Assignment Exercises: To confirm that students understand the main concepts in the various assigned texts, the course will include a brief quiz on eight of the readings. Additional details will be provided during the introduction on the first day of class.

Grading:  Final exam: 50%. Brief reading quizzes: 5% each. This series of eight weekly reading quizzes will earn 40 percent of the course grade. Class participation: 10%. Students are reminded that “participation” is not possible without attending and keeping up with the common readings. Consequently, relentless attendance is expected. At the conclusion of the term, students will be expected to know and understand the major issues in the development of world oil, understand the historical context in which these developments occurred, and demonstrate, both in writing and in oral discussion, the ability to analyze complex questions of oil, diplomacy, technology, nationalism, and colonialism.

Class Conduct:  Your class grade will be based on your own work and not “curved” from what others will do in the class. Consequently, it is expected that we will treat one another collegially and with respect. Deviations from this dictum will not be tolerated. Students are reminded that distractions in the form of cell phone calls, individual conversations, and other disruptions are not acceptable and the professor will consider violations while assessing the final grades. The university’s rules on plagiarism and academic dishonesty will be strictly enforced.

Guest Lectures:

The class may hear from at least one distinguished guest during the course of the semester. Exact details will be announced later. 

Additional Requirements for Graduate Students ONLY:

Readings: Graduate students are expected to read the common readings and read an additional four assigned books from which they will write analytical reviews, concluding at the end of the semester with a comparative review utilizing from 2-4 of the books as designated by the instructor. This assignment will be due on the date of the mid-term exam. Periodically, graduate students will be asked to stay after class, up to a half an hour (or meet at another convenient time for a half an hour) to discuss those assigned books.

 Common Readings (in the order we will read them):

            * book is on reserve at Coe Library

*Daniel Yergin. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power. (New York: Free Press, reissue, 2008). ISBN-10: 1439110123 ISBN-13: 978-1438110126 (paper) (We will read selected chapters)

*Laton McCartney. The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country. (New York: Random House, 2009). ISBN: 978-0-81297-337-2 (paper)

Steve Coll. Private Empire: Exxon-Mobil and American Power. (New York: Penguin Books; Reprint edition, 2013). ISBN-10: 0143123548 ISBN-13: 978-0143123545 (paper)

*Alison Fleig Frank, Oil Empire: Visions of Prosperity in Austrian Galacia. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005). ISBN:  978-0674025417 (paper)

*Terry Lynn Karl. The Paradox of Plenty: Oil Booms and Petro-States. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997).  ISBN: 978-0520207721 (paper)

Raul Gallegos. Crude Nation: How Oil Riches Ruined Venezuela. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016).

Ben Mezrich. Once Upon a Time in Russia: The Rise of the Oligarchs—A True Story of Ambition, Wealth, Betrayal, and Murder. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2015).

*Robert Vitalis. America’s Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier. (London: Verso, 2009). ISBN: 978-1-84467-313-1 (paper)

Luke Patey. The New Kings of Crude: China, India and the Global Struggle for Oil in Sudan and South Sudan. (London: Hurst, 2014). 376 pp.  ISBN-10: 1849042942  ISBN-13: 978-1849042949

*Ken Silverstein. The Secret World of Oil. (Verso, 2014). ISBN: 978-1-78168-137-4

*Gregory Zuckerman. The Frackers. (Portfolio Trade Reprint edition, 2014).ISBN-10: 1591847095 ISBN-13: 978-1591847090 (paper).

Macartan Humphreys, Jeffrey D. Sachs and Joseph Stiglitz, eds. Escaping the Resource Curse (Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia: Challenges in Development and Globalization). (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007). 432 pp.  ISBN-10: 0231141963 ISBN-13: 978-0231141963 (We will read selected essays from this book).

*Alexandra Fuller. The Legend of Colton H. Bryant. (New York: Penguin, 2008). ISBN-13: 978-0143115373 (paper) 

*Peter B. Doran. Breaking Rockefeller: The Incredible Story of the Ambitious Rivals Who Toppled an Oil Empire. (New York: Viking, 2016). ISBN-10: 0525427392  ISBN-13: 978-0525427391


Outline of Topics, Meetings and Assignments

Week 1: (Week of Jan. 23) Introduction.

Distribution of the syllabus; explanation of class expectations; assignment of readings. 

Week 2: (Week of Jan. 30) Earliest History of Oil: Ancient World, Marco Polo, Native American Tribes, Caspian Sea

Common Reading: None. 

Week 3: (Week of Feb. 6) Economics of Oil in America and Worldwide in the Early 20th Century.

Common Reading: Daniel Yergin. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power. (New York: Free Press, reissue, 2008). ISBN-10: 1439110123 ISBN-13: 978-1438110126 (paper) (Read pp. 11-81). Later in the semester, we will read other extracts from this book for context).

Week 4: (Week of Feb. 13) American Oil in Politics and Culture.

Common Reading:  Laton McCartney. The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White Houseand Tried to Steal the Country. (New York: Random House, 2009). E785 M38 2008 Read entire book. (This book is available as an e-book through the library website).

Steve Coll. Private Empire: Exxon-Mobil and American Power. (New York: Penguin Books; Reprint edition, 2013). ISBN-10: 0143123548ISBN-13: 978-0143123545 (paper)  (Read chaps. 1-4, 12, 16, 18, 20, 25-28).

Week 5: (Week of Feb. 20) Oil in Europe.

 Common Reading: Alison Fleig Frank, Oil Empire: Visions of Prosperity in Austrian Galacia.(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005). HD9575 G35 F73 2005 

Week 6: (Week of Feb. 27) Theories of Oil Development and Latin American Oil

Common Reading: Terry Lynn Karl. The Paradox of Plenty: Oil Booms and Petro-States.(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997).  HD9574 V42 K37 1997

Week 7: (March 8:) Raul Gallegos. Crude Nation: How Oil Riches Ruined Venezuela. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016). E-book available through Coe Library. 

Originally scheduled for Week 7: (March 8) Modern Oil in Russia

This topic will be covered after mid-term break.

Common Reading: Ben Mezrich,Once Upon a Time in Russia: The Rise of the Oligarchs—A True Story of Ambition, Wealth, Betrayal, and Murder.(New York: Simon and Schuster, 2015).  JC419 M49 2015b  

Week 8: (Week of March 13) NO CLASS. Spring Break. 

Week 9: (Week of March 20): Oil in the Persian Gulf: The Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain

Common Reading: None 

Week 10: (Week of March 27)  Oil in Saudi Arabia

 Common Reading: Robert Vitalis. America’s Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier. (London: Verso, 2009). HD9576 S334 A738 2007 

Week 11: (Week of April 3) Oil, Colonialism, and War in Africa.

Common Reading: Luke Patey. The New Kings of Crude: China, India and the Global Struggle for Oil in Sudan and South Sudan. (London: Hurst, 2014). 376 pp.  ISBN-10: 1849042942  ISBN-13: 978-1849042949  E-book available through Coe Library.

Week 12: (Week of April 10) Modern Financing of Oil: Futures Markets, Contracts and Deal-making; The Multinationals and the “Majors”

Common Reading: Ken Silverstein. The Secret World of Oil. (Verso, 2014). ISBN: 978-1-78168-137-4   HD9560.5 S537 2014

Week 13: (Week of April 17) 21st Century Energy, Natural Gas, Coal Bed Methane

Common Reading: Rone Tempest, Two Elk Sage: How One Man’s Dream Became State, Federal Nightmare. (WyoFile.)  https://rone.creatavist.com/twoelksaga#story-cover

Gregory Zuckerman. The Frackers. (New York: Portfolio Reprint Edition, 2014). ISBN: 978-1-59184-709-0   HD9569.8 Z83 2013

Week 14: (April 24) Current Issues in Global Oil Exploration and Development

 Common Reading:  (selected essays from the Humphreys book—exact essay titles to be announced in class)

Humphreys, Macartan, Jeffrey D. Sachs and Joseph Stiglitz, eds. Escaping the Resource Curse (Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia: Challenges in Development and Globalization). (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007). 432 pp.  ISBN-10: 0231141963 ISBN-13: 978-0231141963

Week 15: (Week of May 1) Current Issues in Oil: Oil in Biography, Fiction and Film.

Common Reading:  Alexandra Fuller. The Legend of Colton H. Bryant. (New York: Penguin, 2008). ISBN-13: 978-0143115373 (paper)  HD7269 P4 F85 2008

Laton McCartney and Rone Tempest, “The Department of the Interior Oil and Gas Scandal and Its Wyoming Roots”

Peter B. Doran. Breaking Rockefeller: The Incredible Story of the AmbitiousRivals Who Toppled an Oil Empire. (New York: Viking, 2016). ISBN-10: 0525427392  ISBN-13: 978-0525427391  HD9560.5 D67 2016

We will be viewing excerpts from several films, including There Will Be Blood and Hellfighters.

FINAL EXAM: The designated date and time is Tuesday, May 9, 1:15-3:15 p.m. Take-home exam is due on or before May 9, 5 p.m.

READINGS IN OIL HISTORY

The literature on the history of oil is extensive and growing daily. Many of the works published in the 20th century involved biographies of famous oil pioneers or official histories of large multi-national companies. Over the past decade or two, studies of oil development in various countries have been published along with comparative works. (For this class, in addition to the common reading, graduate students will be assigned four books from this list).

Abdelrahman Munif, Cities of Salt. (New York: Random House, 1987). ISBN: 978-0394755267  (paper).

Aguilar, Renato and Asa Stenman, Angola: A History of Oil, War and Economic Policy  (Goteborg:  Routledge, 2001).

Al-Nakib, Farah. Kuwait Transformed: A History of Oil and Urban Life. (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2016).

Ali, Syed. Dubai: Gilded Cage. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010).

Baer, Robert. Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude. (NY: Crown, 2003).

Bamberg, J. H. The History of the British Petroleum Company. Vol. 2: The Anglo-Iranian Years, 1920-1954. (Cambridge, 1994).

Bamberg, J. H. British Petroleum and Global Oil, 1950-1975: The Challenge of Nationalism.  (Cambridge, 2000).

Black, Brian. Petrolia : The Landscape of America’s First Oil Boom (Creating the North American Landscape)  Canada. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 2001).

Black, Brian C. Crude Reality: Petroleum in World History. (Lanham, Md.: Rowan and Littlefield, 2012).

Boue, Juan Carlos. Venezuela: The Political Economy of Oil. (Oxford University Press, 1993).

Brown, Anthony Cave. Oil, God, and Gold: The Story of Aramco and the Saudi Kings. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999). ISBN: 0-395-59220-8   The book has been criticized for a number of careless errors. Brown, who died in 2006, wrote extensively on spies.

Chamberlain, Kathleen P., Under Sacred Ground: A History of Navajo Oil, 1922-1982.  (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000).

Chernow, Ron, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., (New York: Vintage, 2004).

Clarke, Angela. Bahrain Oil and Development, 1929-1989. (London: Immel Publishing, 1991).

Colgan, Jeff D. Petro-Aggression: When Oil Causes War. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013). 324 pp.  ISBN-10: 1107654971  ISBN-13: 978-1107654976

Coll, Steve. Private Empire: Exxon-Mobil and American Power. (New York: Penguin Books; Reprint edition, 2013). ISBN-10: 0143123548ISBN-13: 978-0143123545 (paper)

Davidson, Christopher M. Abu Dhabi: Oil and Beyond. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009).

Davis, Margaret Leslie. Dark Side of Fortune: Triumph and Scandal in the Life of Oil Tycoon Edward L. Doheny. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998).

Deffeyes, Kenneth S. Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert’s Peak. Hill and Wang, 2006). ISBN: 978-0809029570 (paper)

Dekmejian, R. Hrair, and Hovann H. Simonian. Troubled Waters: The Geopolitics of the Caspian Basin. (London: I. B. Tauris, 2001).  DK 511 C02D456 2001  

Doran, Peter B.. Breaking Rockefeller: The Incredible Story of the AmbitiousRivals Who Toppled an Oil Empire. (New York: Viking, 2016)

Downey, Morgan. Oil 101. (New York: Wooden Table Press, 2009). 452 pp. ISBN-10: 0982039204  ISBN-13: 978-0982039205

Dunning, Thad.  Crude Democracy: Natural Resource Wealth and Political Regimes (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics). (Cambridge University Press, 2008). 350 pp. ISBN-10: 0521730759 ISBN-13: 978-0521730754

Eichenwald, Kurt. Conspiracy of Fools. (New York: Broadway, 2005).

Elm, Mostafa. Oil, Power and Principle: Iran’s Oil Nationalization and Aftermath. (Syracuse Univ Press, 1992).

Epstein, Edward J. Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer. (New York: Random House, 1996).

Fernier, Ronald W. The History of the British Petroleum Company. Vol. 1: The Developing Years, 1901-1932. (Cambridge, 1982).

Franks, Kenny A. and Paul F. Lambert. Early California Oil: A Photographic History, 1865-1940. (College Station:. Texas A&M Press, 1985).

Freudenburg, William R. and Robert Gramling. Blowout in the Gulf: The BP Oil Disaster and the Future of Energy in America. (Boston: MIT Press, 2012). ISBN-13: 978-0262517294 (paper)

Gallegos, Raul. Crude Nation: How Oil Riches Ruined Venezuela. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016).

Gerlach, Allen. Indians, Oil and Politics: A Recent History of Ecuador. (Wilmington: Scholarly Res., 2003).

Ghazvinian, John. Untapped: The Struggle for Africa’s Oil. (Orlando: Harcourt, 2007). ISBN 978-0-156033720 (paper)

Goldman, Marshall I. Petrostate: Putin, Power and the New Russia. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).

Golub, David B. When Oil and Politics Mix: Saudi Oil Policy 1973-85. (Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard, 1985).

Gustafson, Thane. Wheel of Fortune: The Battle for Oil and Power in Russia. (Cambridge: Belknap/Harvard Press, 2012). ISBN: ISBN-10: 0674066472ISBN-13: 978-0674066472 (hard cover)

Hammerson, Marc, and John LaMaster. Oil and Gas in Africa: A Legal and Commercial Analysis of the Upstream Industry. (London: Globe Law and Business, 2015). ISBN-13: 978-1909416680

Hawley, Donald. The Trucial States. (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1970).

Heilbrunn, John R.  Oil, Democracy, and Development in Africa. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014).  ISBN-10: 1107049814   ISBN-13: 978-1107049819

Henderson, Edward. This Strange Eventful History: Memoirs of Earlier Days in the UAE and the Sultanate of Oman. (Dubai: Motivate Publishing, 1988).

Herb, Michael. The Wages of Oil: Parliaments and Economic Development in Kuwait and the UAE. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2014). 256 pp. ISBN-10: 0801453364  ISBN-13: 978-0801453366

Hertog, Steffen. Princes, Brokers and Bureaucrats: Oil and the State in Saudi Arabia. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010). 

International Crisis Group. God, Oil and Country: Changing the Logic of War in Sudan. (Report 39,  2002).

Jones, Walter. Derricks and Determination: Oil Exploration in a Portion of Southwest Wyoming, 1847-1982. (Casper: Mountain States Printing, 2005).

Keeble, John. Out of the Channel: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Prince William Sound. (Cheney: Eastern Washington Univ. Press, 1999). TD427 P4 K38

Kent, Marian.Oil and Empire: British Policy and Mesopotamian Oil, 1900-1920. (New York: Macmillan, 1976).

King, Charles. The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).

Kinzer, Stephen. All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. (New York: Wiley, 2003). Details the fascinating story of the overthrow of Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 and how that event involved Americans.

Klare, Michael T. Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy. (New York: Henry Holt, 2008).

Kleveman, Lutz. The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia. (Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003).

Konrad, John and Tom Shroder. Fire on the Horizon: The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster. (New York: HarperCollins, 2011).

Krane, Jim. City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2009).

Larson, T. A. Wyoming’s War Years. (Cheyenne: Wyoming Historical Foundation, 1993). Chapters on oil industry in Wyoming during the war.

Leffler, William. Petroleum Refining in Nontechnical Language. 4th ed. (Tulsa: PennWell Corp., 2008). 270 pp.  ISBN-10: 1593701586  ISBN-13: 978-1593701581

LeVine, Steve. The Oil and the Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea. (New York: Random House, 2007).  ISBN:978-0375506147

Lewis, Peter. Growing Apart: Oil, Politics and Economic Change in Indonesia and Nigeria. (Ann Arbor:University of Michigan Press, 2007).

Limbert, Mandana E. In the Time of Oil: Piety, Memory and Social Life in an Omani Town. (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2010).

Luong, Pauline Jones, and Erika Weinthal. Oil is Not a Curse: Ownership Structure and Institutions in Soviet Successor States. (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics). (Cambridge University Press, 2010). 446 pp.  ISBN-10: 0521148081ISBN-13: 978-0521148085

Mackey, Mike. Black Gold: Patterns in the Development of Wyoming’s Oil Industry. (Powell: Western History Publications, 1997).

Mackie, Bill. The Oilmen: The North Sea Tigers. (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2004).

Marcel, Valerie, Oil Titans: National Oil Companies in the Middle East. (London: Chatham House, 2006).

Margonelli, Lisa. Oil on the Brain: Petroleum’s Long, Strange Trip to Your Tank. (NY: Broadway, 2008).

McAuliffe, Dennis. Bloodland: A Family Story of Blood, Oil and Murder on the Osage Reservation. (Council Oak Books, 1999).

McBeth, B. S., and Alan Knight. Juan Vicente Gomez and the Oil Companies in Venezuela, 1908-1935. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).

McPhee, John. Annals of the Former World. (New York: Farrar, Strauss, 1998).

Menoret, Pascal. Joyriding in Riyadh: Oil, Urbanism, and Road Revolt. (Cambridge Middle East Studies). (Cambridge University Press, 2014). 263 pp.  ISBN-10: 1107641950ISBN-13: 978-1107641952

Mezrich, Ben. Rigged: The True Story of an Ivy League Kid Who Changed the World of Oil, from Wall Street to Dubai. (New York: William Morrow, 2007).

Mitchell, John, ed. The New Economy of Oil: Impacts on Business, Geopolitics and Society. (London: Earthscan Publications, 2001).

Nussimbaum, Liv (Essad Bey). Blood and Oil in the Orient. (London: Nash and Grayson, 1931). This unusual book was written by Nussimbaum, a refugee from Baku, while he was living in exile.

Obi, Cyril and Siri Aas Rustad. Oil and Insurgency in the Niger Delta: Managing the Complex Politics of Petro-Violence. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011).

Olien, Roger, and Diana Davids Olien. Oil and Ideology: The Cultural Creation of the American Petroleum Industry. (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1999).

Omoweh, Daniel A. Shell Development Company, the State and Underdevelopment of Nigeria’s Niger Delta: A Study in Environmental Degradation. (Trenton, N. J.: Africa World Press, 2005).

Ovadia, Jesse. The Petro-Developmental State in Africa: Making Oil Work in Angola, Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea. (London: Hurst, 2016).

Painter, David H. Private Power and Public Policy: Multinational Oil Companies and U. S. Foreign Policy, 1941-1954. (London: I. B. Tauris and Co., 1986).

Parra, Francisco. Oil Politics: A Modern History of Petroleum. (London: I. B. Tauris, 2004).

Patey, Luke. The New Kings of Crude: China, India and the Global Struggle for Oil in Sudan and South Sudan. (London: Hurst, 2014). 376 pp.  ISBN-10: 1849042942  ISBN-13: 978-1849042949

Philip, George. Oil and Politics in Latin America: Nationalist Movements and State Companies. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).

Pratt, Joseph A., Tyler Priest and Christopher J. Castaneda. Offshore Pioneers: Brown and Root and the History of Offshore Oil and Gas. (Gulf Professional Publishing, 1997).

Reiss, Tom. The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life. (New York: Random House, 2005). Interesting biography of Nussimbaum (above) who wrote, among other works, the Azeri classic, Ali and Nino. The book provides interesting insights on oil in Baku and the people who developed the industry there.

Roberts, Adam. The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs, and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa. (New York: PublicAffairs, 2007). ISBN-10: 1586485008  ISBN-13: 978-1586485009

Roberts, Harold. Salt Creek, Wyoming: The Story of a Great Oilfield. (Denver: Midwest Oil Co., 1956).

Roberts, Paul. The End of Oil. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004).

Ross, Michael L. The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations. (Princeton University Press, 2013). 312 pp. ISBN-10: 0691159637  ISBN-13: 978-0691159638

Santiago, Myrna. The Ecology of Oil: Environment, Labor and the Mexican Revolution, 1900-1938. (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

Sernovitz, Gary. The Green and the Black: The Complete Story of the Shale Revolution, the Fight over Fracking and the Future of Energy. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2016).

Shah, Sonia. Crude: The Story of Oil. (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2004).

Simmons, Matthew R., Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy. (New York: Wiley, 2005).

Sinclair, Upton. Oil! A Novel. (New York: Boni, 1927; Penguin edition, 2007). The novel by the famous muckraking writer incorporates real people and events into the plot. It was the basis for a popular film, There Will Be Blood.

Siollum, Max. Oil, Politics and Violence: Nigeria’s Military Coup Culture, 1966-1976. (New York: Algora Publishing, 2009).  268 pp. ISBN-10: 0875867081  ISBN-13: 978-0875867083

Soares de Oliveira, Ricardo. Oil and Politics in the Gulf of Guinea. (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2007).

Spence, Hartzell. Portrait in Oil: How the Ohio Oil Company Grew to Be Marathon. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1962).

Steffy, Loren C. Drowning in Oil: BP and the Reckless Pursuit of Profit. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011).

Stegner, Wallace. Discovery!: The Search of Arabian Oil. (Beirut: Middle East Export Press, 1971; 2d ed., Vista, Calif.: Selwa Press, 2007). Yes, this is the work of the well-known Western writer. He was a professor at Stanford when he accepted the contract to write the book after spending two weeks in Saudi Arabia in the middle 1950s.

Stratton, David. Tempest over Teapot Dome: The Story of Albert B. Fall. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998). 

Tarbell, Ida. The History of Standard Oil. (Reprint, New York: Harper and Row, 1966). A muckraking classic.

Termeer, Chris. Fundamentals of Investing in Oil and Gas. (Chris Termeer Publishing, 2013). 320 pp. ISBN-10: 098904341X  ISBN-13: 978-0989043410

Tinker Sales, Miguel. The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture and Society in Venezuela. (Durham: Duke University Press, 2009).

Tolf, Robert W. The Russian Rockefellers: The Saga of the Nobel Family and the Russian Oil Industry. (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1976).

Tsalik, Svetlana, and Anya Schiffrin, eds. Covering Oil: A Reporter’s Guide to Energy and Development. (New York: Open Society Institute, 2005). ISBN: 978-1-89138-545-2 (paper)

Tygiel, Jules. The Great Los Angeles Oil Swindle: Oil, Stocks and Scandal During the Roaring Twenties. (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1994).

Van der Leeuw, Charles, Oil and Gas in the Caucasus & Caspian: A History. (London:.Palgrave Macmillan, 2000).

Victor, David G., David R. Hults and Mark C. Thurber, (eds.) Oil and Governance: State-Owned Enterprises and the World Energy Supply. (Cambridge University Press, 2014). 1,036 pp.  ISBN-10: 1107438969  ISBN-13: 978-1107438965

Vosti, Stephen A., and Thomas Reardon. The Libyan Oil Industry. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1980).

Weinberg, Steve. Taking on the Trust of Ida Tarbell: The Epic Battle and John D. Rockefeller. (New York: W. W. Norton, 2008).

Wilson, Terry P. The Underground Reservation: Osage Oil. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985).

Yergin, Daniel. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power. (New York: Simon/Schuster, 1991) ISBN: 978-0671799328 (paper)

Yergin, Daniel. The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern World. (New York: Penquin, rev. ed., 2012). ISBN: 978-0-14-312194-7 (paper)

ARTICLE AND SPECIAL ISSUE:

Elkind, Susan S. “Black Gold and the Beach; Offshore Oil, Beaches and Federal Power in Southern California,” Journal of the West 44 (Winter 2005), pp. 8-17.

Journal of American HistorySpecial Issue: Oil in American History. 99/1 (June 2012).