The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, & Power
Daniel Yergin's first prize-winning book, Shattered Peace, was a history of the Cold War. Afterwards the young academic star joined the energy project of the Harvard Business School and wrote the best-sellerEnergy Future. Following on from there,The Prize, winner of the 1992Pulitzer Prizefor nonfiction, is a comprehensive history of one of the commodities that powers the world--oil. Founded in the 19th century, the oil industry began producing kerosene for lamps and progressed to gasoline. Huge personal fortunes arose from it, and whole nations sprung out of the power politics of the oil wells. Yergin's fascinating account sweeps from early robber barons likeJohn D. Rockefeller, to the oil crisis of  the 1970s,  through to the Gulf War.