Oil!

'A classic tale of greed and corruption' Erich Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation

Upton Sinclair's searing, prophetic indictment of fossil fuels, and the inspiration for the film There Will Be Blood

Based on the oil scandals of the Harding administration, Upton Sinclair's novel Oil! burst into the literary limelight amid soaring petroleum profits and gaping inequalities in 1927. Whether telling the story of the land, the ordinary civilian, or the heirs to oil fortune, Sinclair skilfully paints a vivid picture of the effects of corporate corruption, greed and how the so called 'American Century' was born.

By turns a gripping family saga and anti-capitalist warning, Oil! ranks among the most important critiques of fossil energy ever written. An exhilarating novel, which anticipated how fossil fuels would shape the dilemmas of our present, Oil! looks toward a greener, more inclusive, and altogether more livable world yet to come.

Reviews

“A classic tale of greed and corruption”—Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation
“[Oil! is] probably his second best book and certainly his most readable.”—The New Yorker
“Anderson's film is a true American saga—one that rivals Giant and Citizen Kane in our popular lore as origin stories about how we came to be the people we are… Daniel Day-Lewis is at his brilliant best as the story's Daniel Plainview, a man whose humanity diminishes as his fortunes increase.”—Variety