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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oilby John Ghazvinian
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Although Africa has long been known to be rich in oil, extracting it hadn’t seemed worth the effort and risk until recently. But with the price of Middle Eastern crude oil skyrocketing and advancing technology making reserves easier to tap, the region has become the scene of a competition between major powers that recalls the nineteenth-century scramble for colonization there. Already the United States imports more of its oil from Africa than from Saudi Arabia, and China, too, looks to the continent for its energy security. What does this giddy new oil boom mean—for America, for the world, for Africans themselves? To find out, John Ghazvinian traveled through twelve African countries—from Sudan to Congo to Angola—talking to warlords, industry executives, bandits, activists, priests, missionaries, oil-rig workers, scientists, and ordinary people whose lives have been transformed—not necessarily for the better—by the riches beneath their feet. The result is a high-octane narrative that reveals the challenges, obstacles, reasons for despair, and reasons for hope emerging from the world’s newest energy hot spot. Review:"With American relations in the Middle East on shaky ground, the U.S. government and the petroleum industry have turned to Africa as a new source of oil, investing more than a billion dollars a year in the continent since 1990. China and India are also looking to African crude oil, which is 'lighter' and 'sweeter' than its Arab counterpart and thus requires less costly refining, to fuel their booming economies. So Ghazvinian, an Oxford historian armed with 'a suitcase full of notepads and malaria pills, and a sweaty money belt stuffed with $100 bills,' toured a dozen oil-producing nations to see how they'd been affected by the oil boom. What he finds is internal strife: in Nigeria, the only thing that keeps one group of interview subjects from assaulting him is that he doesn't work for Shell. Later, an official in the 'self-parodying burlesque of a tin-pot kleptocracy,' Equatorial Guinea, makes a not-so-veiled threat after soliciting a bribe falls through. Even more stable nations have their problems: in Gabon the national economy was so transformed by oil that the government has to import most of its food from neighboring countries. Ghazvinian's ground-level interviews bring perspective to the chaos, though readers may wish for a map to follow his path through the unfamiliar territory." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Book News Annotation:In 2001, Iranian-born Ghazvinian (history, U. of Pennsylvania) set
out on a six-month trip through 12 sub-Sahara African countries to
get some first-hand information about challenges, obstacles, and
reasons for hope and despair concerning oil from the region. He
talked to politicians and political prisoners, economists and oil-rig
workers, warlords and rebel militia leaders, diplomats and bankers,
and others. He also visited Washington, London, and Paris. The result
is a snapshot, he says, of a moment when Africa seems on the verge of
playing in the big game.
Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Review:"Like the cars that might one day make the Western world a bit less reliant on crude oil, Untapped is a hybrid; part travelogue, part analysis and part lament. It is also well timed." Review:" ... [a] deftly reported book ... " Review:"Ghazvinian, who has a doctorate in history from Oxford, a sure hand with economic theory, and a journalists touch for capturing the telling detail, delivers an account that would be wildly entertaining if the story he was telling wasnt so full of heartbreaking poverty, venality, corruption and violence." Synopsis:To find out how the new oil boom is affecting Africa, Ghazvinian traveled the country for a firsthand look. The result is a high-octane narrative that reveals the challenges, obstacles, reasons for despair, and reasons for hope emerging from the worlds newest energy hot spot. About the AuthorJOHN GHAZVINIAN has a doctorate in history from Oxford. He has written for Newsweek, the Nation, Time Out New York, and other publications. Born in Iran and raised in London and Los Angeles, he currently lives in Philadelphia, where he is a visiting fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. Table of ContentsCONTENTS Preface ix Introduction 1 1. THE ONSHORE EFFECT 17 2. THE OFFSHORE ILLUSION 83 3. “A COUNTRY IN AFRICA” 126 4. INSTANT EMIRATES 166 5. PARADISE FOUND? 207 6. THE PLACE WHERE PEOPLE WAIT 245 7. THE CHINESE ARE COMING! . BUT WHO ISN’T? 274 Epilogue 296 Acknowledgments 299 A Note on Sources and Suggested Further Reading 302 Index 307 What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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