Private Empire: Exxon Mobil And American Power

Description

From twice-Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Steve Coll comes "Private Empire", winner of the Ft/Goldman Sachs business book of the year award 2012. The oil giant ExxonMobil makes more money annually than the GDP of most countries; has greater sway than US embassies abroad; and spends more on lobbying than any other corporation. Yet to outsiders it is a mystery. In "Private Empire", award-winning reporter Steve Coll tells the truth about the world's most powerful and shadowy company. From the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, via Moscow, the swamps of the Niger Delta and the halls of Congress, he reveals a story of dictators, oligarchs, civil war, blackmail, secrecy and ruthlessness. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and newly declassified documents, this is a chilling portrait of unchecked power. Reviews: "Magisterial ...a revealing history of our time". ("New York Review of Books"). "Meticulous, multi-angled and valuable...Coll's prose sweeps the earth like an Imax camera". (Dwight Garner, "The New York Times"). "Jaw-dropping reading". ("Kirkus Reviews"). "The definitive work on its subject ...at every stop there are vivid anecdotes, sharp insights and telling details". (Ed Crooks, "Financial Times"). About the author: Steve Coll is the author of the "New York Times" bestseller "The Bin Ladens". He is president of the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy institute headquartered in Washington, D.C., and a staff writer for "The New Yorker". He won a Pulitzer prize for explanatory journalism while working at the "Washingon Post". He is the author of six other books, including the bestseller "Ghost Wars", which won him a second Pulitzer prize. He lives in Washington and New York.

Awards

Winner :  Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award 2012

Reviews

Magisterial ... a revealing history of our time -- Bill McKibben New York Review of Books Meticulously researched and elegantly written, it is likely to be the definitive work on its subject for many years to come. Steve Coll ... is honest about Exxon's strengths as well as its flaws, and presents both sides of the arguments with scrupulous even-handedness ... At every stop there are vivid anecdotes, sharp insights and telling details -- Ed Crooks Financial Times Masterful ... Coll's in-depth reporting, buttressed by his anecdotal prose, make Private Empire a must-read ... [His] portrait of ExxonMobil is both riveting and appalling... Yet Private Empire is not so much an indictment as a fascinating look into American business and politics San Francisco Chronicle Meticulous, multi-angled and valuable ... Coll's prose sweeps the earth like an Imax camera -- Dwight Garner New York Times A thorough, sobering study of the pernicious consolidation of Big Oil ... jaw-dropping reading Kirkus Reviews

Author description

Steve Coll is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Bin Ladens. He is president of the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy institute headquartered in Washington, D.C., and a staff writer for The New Yorker. He won a Pulitzer prize for explanatory journalism while working at the Washingon Post. He is the author of six other books, including the bestseller Ghost Wars, which won him a second Pulitzer prize. He lives in Washington and New York.