A Pipeline Runs Through It

The Story of Oil from Ancient Times to the First World War

A Pipeline Runs Through It
Keith Fisher
RRP:
NZ$ 95.00
Our Price:
NZ$ 76.00
Hardback
h240 x 162mm - 768pg
4 Aug 2022 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9780241558225
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
The origin story of our modern oil ageA Pipeline Runs Through It is a fresh, comprehensive in-depth look at the social, economic, political and geopolitical forces involved in our transition to the modern oil age. It tells an extraordinary story, from the pre-industrial history of petroleum through to large-scale production in the mid-19th century and the development of a dominant, fully-fledged oil industry by the early 20th century. Petroleum was used as an adhesive by Neanderthals, as a waterproofing agent in Noah' s Ark and as a weapon during the Crusades. Its eventual extraction from the earth in vast quantities transformed light, heat and power. This was always a story of imperialist violence, political disenfranchisement, economic exploitation and environmental destruction. The near total eradication of the Native Americans of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio has barely been mentioned as a precondition for the emergence of the first industrialised oil region in the United States. Britain' s invasion of Upper Burma in 1885 was perhaps the first war fought, at least in part, for access to oil; the growth of Royal Dutch-Shell involved genocidal fighting and the exploitation of oil in the Middle East arose seamlessly out of Britain' s prior political and military interventions in the region. Finally, in an entirely new analysis, the book shows how British navy' s increasingly desperate dependence on vulnerable foreign sources of oil may have been a catalytic ingredient in the outbreak of the First World War.
Fascinating revelations . . . Fisher has performed a notable service. -- Max Hastings * Sunday Times * Impressively weighty history . . . a wonderfully detailed and colourful book. -- Steven Poole * Daily Telegraph * Fisher is a diligent and thoughtful guide . . . deeply researched and rich in detail . . . a valuable contribution to deepening [our] understanding. -- Ed Crooks * Financial Times * Offers a foretaste of almost everything that followed in the later 20th century . . . Fisher narrates this hefty history with remarkable restraint. -- Barnaby Crowcroft * Literary Review * A compelling read, crammed with eyewitness accounts, and an immensely valuable guide to a great and terrible industry. * The Economist * Here, at last, is the book I have long been waiting for: an unsparing, comprehensive, and thoroughly documented history of the global oil industry and its pernicious influence on human society and the planet we inhabit. . . Essential reading. -- Michael Klare A book that offers the reader a clear-eyed analysis of the global history of oil exploration and exploitation . . . very deeply researched, wonderfully illuminating, penetrating in its analysis, and written with great verve. It is a gem of a book, a brave book, a book that will become indispensable in this field. -- Douglas Newton, author of THE DARKEST DAYS Fisher' s extensive research builds upon the foundations of global petroleum histories and then drills deeper to illuminate the intricate contexts of the origins to our oil addiction. A Pipeline Runs Through It is sure to spark some lively debates over the causes and outcomes of petroleum production through the ages. -- Stephen C. Cote, Ph. D. , author of OIL AND NATION Impressively researched and fun to read, A Pipeline Runs Through It provides our deepest understanding yet of oil' s early decades, foreshadowing its rise into a vital strategic commodity that determined the fate of nations in the twentieth century. -- John V. Bowlus, Lecturer and Researcher at Kadir Has University, Istanbul
Keith Fisher has spent some fifteen years researching and writing A Pipeline Runs Through It. He lives in Oxford.
Status: Indent title, imported to order
ISBN-13: 9780241558225
Published: 4 Aug 2022
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: Allen Lane
Publisher: Penguin Books
Format: Hardback
Height: 240mm
Width: 162mm
Spine: 49mm
Weight: 1303g
Pages: 768

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