Daniel Yergin's first prize-winning book, Shattered Peace, was a history of the Cold War. Afterward the young academic star joined the energy project of the Harvard Business School and wrote the best-seller Energy Future. Following on from there,
The Prize, winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, is a comprehensive history of one of the commodities that powers the world--oil. Founded in the 19th century, the
oil industry began producing
kerosene for lamps and progressed to gasoline. Huge personal fortunes arose from it, and whole nations sprung out of the power politics of the oil wells. Yergin's fascinating account sweeps from early robber barons like
John D. Rockefeller, to the
oil crisis of the 1970s, through to the
Gulf War.
Background Information
John D. Rockefeller went from humble beginnings to become the richest man in America by consolidating his hold on the production and refining of petroleum through Standard Oil. During the Gulf War of 1991, the Iraq forces of Saddam Hussein were driven back out Kuwait by an international force under the leadership of the United States.
