The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power

Recently, I reread the book The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power by Daniel Yergin. It starts off by following the story of John D. Rockefeller, and how he, his business, and his competitors used and manipulated unethical strategies to gain an upper hand in the rapidly growing market of oil. In it, there were so many examples of loopholes, blackmail, and even murder as horrible crimes that were committed all for the sake of profits. 

Rockefeller's oil company dominated the oil market for a while, with it being the monopoly. Following this, the book goes into detail about the dangers of having a monopoly of a product, and even discussed the consideration of government intervention and how it might affect the United States' status as a capitalist country. Eventually it died down, and split into multiple branches, one of which, Shell, still exists today.

It also followed other stories of how the oil market grew, starting from the first ever oil well to millions of Americans trying to make their own, which rapidly saturated the market. This drastically changed the economy. This book also gives an introduction to the earlier form of stocks and investments, in which the currency was all oil. The price of oil fluctuated multiple times throughout the book, from people willing to pay an absurd amount for it to people willing to pay the same price for others to take the oil off their hands.

It is more of a nonfiction book and the entire read felt more of like a documentary that was written down. Nonetheless, it was a very interesting read despite its density, and it required a certain amount of concentration to be able to comprehend the concepts it conveyed. I highly recommend reading it, but you might need a spare five to six hours!

DJ

Comments

  1. PennyNovember 2, 2023 at 5:44 PM

    Hey DJ, this seems like a very interesting book. Although it seems quite dense and I don't usually read nonfiction, it sounds engaging. It also seems like a great way to learn more about the economy and the goals of bigger company owners. I'll definitely give it a shot!

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  2. Y_Jemina_FNovember 4, 2023 at 10:44 PM

    I think Shell committed some horrible atrocities, and since this company is still profiting and popular, I feel pretty pessimistic about humanity. But I digress. Thank you for allowing the knowledge of this book into my brain, DJ. Good summary!

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  3. Ian MNovember 12, 2023 at 5:52 PM

    This books sounds incredibly interesting. I haven't ready many books that seem to dive as deep as this book does into economics, and I have an interest in how companies use unethical buisness practices to further their own profits. Overall, even though this book sounds dense I think I might give it a read! Great review.

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