and ideological implications of the early phase of the American oil industry sufficiently. Fortunately, his analysis of the relationship between politics and the oil industry becomes more detailed and analytic when he discusses the Great Depression. The Roosevelt administration entered into an agreement with Standard oil during the 1930s to ration the production of oil and thus keep the oil price stable at about $1 per barrel. In return, the oil industry supported the Democratic Party generously from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Moreover, Yergin's account fails to point out some of the underlying ironies in American pursuits of oil. He discusses one of the most important episodes of American foreign policies, when he draws the reader's attention to Mohammed Mossadegh, the Iranian Prime Minister who nationalized British Petroleum in 1951 and triggered a conflict of interest between Iran and the West that would have political repercussions to this very day (p.458-ff). Although Mossadegh's attempt to nationalize British Petroleum might be co
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