Written by the author of "Shattered Peace" and "Energy Future", this book tells the history of oil and the struggle for wealth and power that always surrounds it. As much a history of the modern world as of the oil industry, the book reveals oil's critical role in world events, from Japan's attack on Pearl Harbour to the Suez Crisis, from Yom Kippur to the Gulf War. The book includes the story of Shell Oil, a company forged in defiance of the Standard Oil monopoly by an upstart London trader, using Rothchild connections, Russian oil and Dutch petrolium concession in the East Indies, and the inside story of the discovery of North Sea Oil and its crucial role in undermining the OPEC monopoly. The book is a TV tie-in edition with the major eight-part BBC TV series.