THE FOUNDERS: Oil on the brain the beginning -- Our Plan John D. Rockefeller and the combination of American oil -- Competitive commerce -- The new century -- The dragon slain -- The oil wars the rise of Royal Dutch, the fall of imperial Russia -- Beer and Skittles in Persia -- The fateful plunge -- THE GLOBAL STRUGGLE: The blood of victory World War I -- Opening the door on the Middle East the Turkish petroleum company -- From shortage to surplus the age of gasoline -- The fight for new production -- The flood -- Friends and enemies the Arabian concessions the world that Frank Holmes made -- WAR AND STRATEGY: Japan's road to war -- Germany's formula for war -- Japan's achilles' heel -- The Allies' war -- THE HYDROCARBON AGE: The new center of gravity -- The postwar petroleum order -- Fifty-fifty the new deal in oil -- Old Mossy and the struggle for Iran -- The Suez crisis -- The elephants -- OPEC and the surge pot -- Hydrocarbon man -- THE BATTLE FOR WORLD MASTERY: The hinge years countries versus companies -- The oil weapon -- Bidding for our life -- OPEC's imperium -- The adjustment -- The second shock the great panic -- We're going down -- Just another commodity -- The good sweating how low can it go

Chronicles the history of the oil industry and the forces that have shaped the modern world

Pulitzer Prize, General Nonfiction, 1992