#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Big Oil and Gas Versus Democracy—Winner Take All“A rollickingly well-written book, filled with fascinating, exciting, and alarming stories about the impact of the oil and gas industry on the world today.”—The New York Times Book Review In 2010, the words “earthquake swarm” entered the lexicon in Oklahoma. That same year, a trove of Michael Jackson … year, a trove of Michael Jackson memorabilia—including his iconic crystal-encrusted white glove—was sold at auction for over $1 million to a guy who was, officially, just the lowly forestry minister of the tiny nation of Equatorial Guinea. And in 2014, Ukrainian revolutionaries raided the palace of their ousted president and found a zoo of peacocks, gilded toilets, and a floating restaurant modeled after a Spanish galleon. Unlikely as it might seem, there is a thread connecting these events, and Rachel Maddow follows it to its crooked source: the unimaginably lucrative and equally corrupting oil and gas industry.
With her trademark black humor, Maddow takes us on a switchback journey around the globe, revealing the greed and incompetence of Big Oil and Gas along the way, and drawing a surprising conclusion about why the Russian government hacked the 2016 U.S. election. She deftly shows how Russia’s rich reserves of crude have, paradoxically, stunted its growth, forcing Putin to maintain his power by spreading Russia’s rot into its rivals, its neighbors, the West’s most important alliances, and the United States. Chevron, BP, and a host of other industry players get their star turn, most notably ExxonMobil and the deceptively well-behaved Rex Tillerson. The oil and gas industry has weakened democracies in developed and developing countries, fouled oceans and rivers, and propped up authoritarian thieves and killers. But being outraged at it is, according to Maddow, “like being indignant when a lion takes down and eats a gazelle. You can’t really blame the lion. It’s in her nature.”
Blowout is a call to contain the lion: to stop subsidizing the wealthiest businesses on earth, to fight for transparency, and to check the influence of the world’s most destructive industry and its enablers. The stakes have never been higher. As Maddow writes, “Democracy either wins this one or disappears.”
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Hearing Rachel read made it so much easier to grasp the content of this book. I learned a lot more listening to it than I did when I read it. In typical Rachel fashion, her voice inflections made the material easier to grasp. She held my attention, which was necessary for the book. I highly recommend this one in audio. Your eyes will surely be open to the follies of the oil and gas industry.
This is a very good analysis of the corruptive nature of the petrochemical business. Topical now because of the pernicious effect of petrodollars and petrooligarchs from the former Soviet Empire successor states (Russia, Ukraine) on American democracy. Rachel does her homework in this book, better than sometimes happens on her show.
Man this was dense material, and it took me a loooong time to read, but it was worth it. Maddow weaves these stark facts into a compelling narrative that pulls you in and sets you right in the middle of it all: In the wind-blown prairies of Oklahoma alongside larger-than-life, winner-take-all oilmen Harold Hamm and Aubrey McClendon; in the roiling, frigid waters of Alaska, with the crew of the doomed Disco, and the Russian Arctic, with the frantic drilling teams of Rosneft and ExxonMobil; in the phone-ringing-off-the-hook office of the harried Oklahoma state geologist researching the huge number of earthquakes shaking middle America; jetting around the world with Exxon head Rex Tillerson as he undermines US foreign policy in the name of the almighty dollar; and inside the gilded halls and Dachas of Vladimir Putin and his oligarchs as they orchestrate chaos inside their own country (via hostile corporate takeovers, theft and assassinations) and around the world (Crimea, shooting down a passenger plane, and deploying armies of internet trolls). Fascinating and utterly terrifying.
Very topical and informatively reminding
Rachel Maddow provides the reader with a wonderful dedication, to bots and trolls , all of you with loveThe author shows us how the oil companies mindless destruction of the enviroment threatens our very existence in the name of greed. The companies are quite capable when extracting resources But incapable of cleaning up after themselves.In Pennsylvania toxic water seeped into the fresh water supply for a month leeching calcium from peoples bones before the well was shut down .When is it enough?The writer ends her book with these words Powerful enemies make for difficult fights.But you can not win if you do not fight.It is the stakes that should motivate us. Democracy either wins or this one disappears. It ought ya be a blowout
Rachel is an excellent writer, interjecting unexpected humor in an otherwise shocking book about staggering corruption in the fossil fuel industry. This is a must-read for everyone who cares about climate change.
Well researched, interesting, and damning… wish this was just fiction
I felt like I was listening to Rachel’s voice in my head as I read this book. Perhaps with all the news now coming like an avalanche, this book might feel like just more relentless news. But it was worth it. It was an amazing window into corruption that insane amounts of wealth can bring. Gives a whole new perspective on why things are the way they are in the world today. ..why Russia…
Money corrupts politics. Democratically elected representatives of the people are just as susceptible to monetary incentives as any other kinds of people. And fossil fuels generate a LOT of money. Money enough to buy every one… over and over again. Rachel Maddow gives example after example of how oil companies, big and small, throw money around to get the laws they want and not the laws the people need.
Here in America and in Russia and in other countries “blessed” with rich fossil fuel reserves, the greed of a few people/companies pervert the way of life. Rachael describes the Resource Curse — why the countries “blessed” with the most natural resources tend to have the worst outcomes in the world for average citizens. More like Resource Paradox, really. Fossil fuels — the devil’s excrement — are particularly susceptible to this curse. Because the money required upfront is huge, companies that mine the fossil fuels require very subservient governments and lenient laws to make it work. And the companies are willing to buy the politicians and the laws — buy the necessary conditions for successful mining. Places on earth that have large natural resources see their average standard of living drastically decline. This happens not only with fossil fuels, of course, but with “blood diamonds”, rare earth metals, gold, or any other kind of “gift of god” resource. Fossil fuels just tend to require more upfront money to develop …but the payout is huge!
I felt like I got an education at the end of the book. No regrets. I want to know what makes this world go round…now. When things stay hidden (by design), it’s hard to effect change. Rachel and the rest of her colleagues in the news world make change possible. Thank you!
Full disclosure, I am a huge fan of Rachel Maddow. The last thing I checked and double-checked before cutting out cable TV was whether or not I would still be able to watch or listen to The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC. I’m generally behind, but I listen to the podcast of the show the next morning. I read her first book, DRIFT, and finally understood the Iran-Contra scandal. Even though I lived through it, Rachel is the one who made it make sense.
Since I listen to Rachel more often than I watch her show, it was a natural for me to want to listen to the Audible Edition of BLOWOUT. Every chapter is an “A” block that is the combination of erudition and Rachel’s down to earth ability to make the most obscure point transparent.
Oil and natural gas is corruption incorporated (or as Citizen’s United would say, personified), and this corruption is global. It would seem that oil and gas can get away without paying taxes, paying bribes, and doing all manner of opaque deals that line the pockets of its executives along with a despot or two along the way. If you want to know why Rex Tillerson had a stint as the United States Secretary of State, read this book. If you want to know the ins and outs of the Oklahoma teachers’ strike, read this book. It would seem that all roads lead to oil and natural gas, and none of them are safe.
Even if you think you don’t want to know every dirty secret about oil and gas, its influence on world politics, and how its very existence further impoverishes the poorest of populations, once you start listening, you will want to listen to the very end.
I watch Rachel’s show anytime I can. She has this way about her that when she explains something, she gives all of the information, and she delivers it a way that is easy to understand. I picked this book to read, not only because it is by her, but because I want to learn more about Russia, the 2016 election, and everything in between.
A good chunk of this book is about the gas and oil industry, and how it rules over our politics. I knew some about this, but now I’m blown away by how much I did not know. The connection between this, Oklahoma earthquakes, Deep Water Horizon, and how they ruin 3rd world countries. It just blows my mind.
I understood why people were upset over Rex Tillerson becoming SOS. After reading this I realize I had no real grasp on it and I’m just speechless.
Rachel is a phenomenal reporter. She does her research, and she does it well. Whether your a fan of her show, or someone who does not, and no matter your political views, I really feel like everyone should read this book.
I didn’t think I ahd any interest in the oil and natural gas industry until I read this. It makes clear that the industry is woefully under-regulated, all spiced up with Rachel’s dry wit. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down.
I thought I should read Blowout by Rachel Maddow. Should being the giveaway word to my motivation. Instead of a dose of medicine that’s good for me but hard to swallow, it was a terrifying funhouse ride that totally engaged my attention! Maddow weaves together a narrative of how we ‘got to here’ that illumines the present.
Maddow lays out the oil industry’s history from Standard Oil to fracking to Putin’s dream of Russia becoming the world’s fuel provider to trolls on Facebook disseminating discord.
The oil industry has always been too big and wealthy and powerful to control, starting with John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil which drove out or took over the competition. The values have not changed; anything goes in the pursuit of increased production and mindboggling wealth. And power. Don’t forget the obscene power.
The oil industry has always looked for better ways to get to the oil, using nuclear bombs and ocean drilling and fracking. Sure, messes happen. The best clean up tool they have developed is a big stick of paper towels.
Fracking was going to save the day! Years worth of ‘clean’ gas. So what if Oklahoma suffered 900 earthquakes in 2017?
I didn’t know how Putin had gambled everything on the fossil fuel industry bringing Russia money and power across the globe. But they needed the technology to make it happen. And Rex Tillerson and Exxon/Mobile were planning to help him. Those pesky sanctions got in their way.
Business and capitalism is amoral; politics and justice and fairness are irrelevant. The prime directive is making money. You lobby for the best tax deals, pay workers the lowest wages possible, make deals with the Devil–if you are killing people, or the entire planet, cover it up and carry on making the big bucks.
The damage fossil fuels are doing to the planet is happening NOW, has been happening for a long time before we wised up to it. It isn’t just when we take a jet or when we eat a half-pound burger or drive the kids to school. Getting that gas out of the ground it escapes. Lots of it. From the get-go, fossil fuels damage our world.
Maddow writes, Coal is done, and so is gas and oil but they don’t know it yet.
Oh, the last desperate gasps of the old world struggling to hold on.
I was given a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.