To Have and Have Not

Reviews/Endorsements:

[Reviews for his last book, Crude Reality:

This engaging and thought-provoking book directs readers’ attention to the vital role that

petroleum occupies in today’s global economy and geopolitical arena. Brian C. Black has done

a masterful job of explaining a complex topic. . . . His conclusions are hard to ignore; the

global society depends on fossil fuels at a time when the world’s peak production of petroleum

has likely already occurred. . . . Essential.” —Choice

“Stands out . . . for Black’s skillful incorporation of environmental and cultural history into

the more standard narratives focusing on the geopolitics of state and corporate development

of global oil resources. . . . Black also makes an important and highly original . . . contribution

by analyzing oil itself as a ‘critical actor, capable of shaping an entire way of life.’ . . . Regardless

of precisely how much oil may be left, though, Black’s insightful book demonstrates that other

‘crude realities’ like environmental damage and global warming will likely favor those nations

that move beyond oil and pioneer the cleaner alternative energy technologies of the future.”

—Journal of World History

“Black . . . has made a most valuable contribution with this long history of oil from the

classical world until today. The work is informative and useful, with a quantity of details

rarely to be found in a single work. . . . The book is well written and always clear and easy to

understand. It [makes] for worthwhile, fruitful reading enriched by many good photos.”

—Global Environmental Politics

“Not since Daniel Yergin’s book, The Prize, has there been a synthetic account that grapples so

thoroughly with the transformative effect of oil in world history. . . . Black . . . [provides] a . . . more

condensed and readable account with a bolder and clearer analytical framework that offers an

accessible entrée to the subject for non-experts of energy history and for scholars alike. . . . Black

crosses national borders and moves swiftly over 250 years of industry development to present

a story in which oil stars initially as ‘black goo’ but transforms over time with the aid of human

accomplices into a powerful actor that drastically alters the world’s climate.”

—Environmental History