Powerful, evocative. taut

Richard Pachter

Miami Herald

Edwin Black’s powerful new study is solid and evocative throughout. For those interested in business history, his study of the relationship between commercial and political interests, especially the company that eventually became British Petroleum, is well worth the price of admission. There’s also ample material to draw from to consider the future path of Iraq … Black is committed, if not obsessed, with hyper-intensive research and documentation. His books are copiously footnoted and referenced. Given the seriousness and scope of the subjects, this is an absolute necessity.

Masterfully opens our eyes

Sir Martin Gilbert

Author, A History of the Twentieth Century

Leave it to Edwin Black to masterfully open our eyes to the previously unknown details of the Middle East machinations that ultimately determined the world's oil destiny. British Petroleum and the Redline Agreement is another triumph.

Impressive, Meticulous

Richard A. Clarke

Washington Post Book World

Black’s impressive analysis, which included looking at more than 50,000 original documents and hundreds of scholarly books and articles … explains why the West’s record in the region so complicates nation-building there today.

Corruption and Machinations

Marc J. Rauch

The Auto Channel

The story of petroleum and oil exploration should be one of entrepreneurial glory. Instead, the more we learn about the corruption and machinations employed by British Petroleum and its industry cohorts, the more we realize that we have been the victims of an addictive, war-made subjugation for over 100 years.

Fascinating history

Adam Daifallah

Montreal Gazette

What a fascinating history … Black tries to show that the reason so much attention has been paid to Iraq, especially in the modern era, is its oil. He does so fairly convincingly.

A gift for research

Martin Barillas

EnergyPublisher.com

In British Petroleum and the Redline Agreement, Black again brings to the table his considerable gifts for research and the teasing-out of a complex nexus of relationships that sustains America’s and the world’s petroleum addiction. British Petroleum has long been nurtured by the wars in what is now Iraq. The oil platform disaster in the Gulf of Mexico brought to light for Americans its tangled web of deceit, shady diplomacy, and realpolitik.

A gripping story

Patrick Clawson

Middle East Quarterly

The author has a wonderful ability to turn historical events, obscure to most Western readers, into a gripping story … The standard of scholarship is excellent.