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  • The Prize

  • The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power
  • Written by: Daniel Yergin
  • Narrated by: Bob Jamieson
  • Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (15 ratings)

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The Prize cover art

The Prize

Written by: Daniel Yergin
Narrated by: Bob Jamieson
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Publisher's Summary

The Prize recounts the panoramic history of oil, and the struggle for wealth and power that has always surrounded oil. This struggle has shaken the world economy, dictated the outcome of wars, and transformed the destiny of men and nations.

The Prize is as much a history of the 20th-century as of the oil industry itself. The canvas of this history is enormous - from the drilling of the first well in Pennsylvania through two great world wars to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and Operation Desert Storm.

The cast extends from wildcrafters and rogues to oil tycoons, and from Winston Churchill and Ibn Saud to George Bush and Saddam Hussein.

The definitive work on the subject of oil and a major contribution to understanding our century, The Prize is a book of extraordinary breadth, riveting excitement--and great importance.
©1993 Daniel Yergin (P)2008 Simon & Schuster
Politics & Government Business & Careers Economics Military United States 20th Century
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What the critics say

Pulitzer Prize, General Non-Fiction, 1992

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  • jws
  • 2021-11-16

Abridged - disappointed

Like many of the other reviewers here, I neglected to notice this was the abridged version and failed to read the reviews prior to spending a credit. Disappointing to say the least.

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3 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Randol
  • 2010-06-18

major let down

This is one of my favorite books to read. This abriged version is a disaster. They cut out all the interesting history of the oil companies and only covered the politics of mid 20th century oil. What happened to the Colonel, Rockefeller, the 7 sisters? This was awful. If you only want the oil politics of 1950 to 1990 then this is fine. For me...yuk!

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84 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Josh
  • 2010-10-26

This is ABRIDGED....*sigh*

Silly me - I didn't see the teeny tiny type that said "Abridged." That's a waste of a download. I've previously listened to this on cassette tape while driving from Seattle to NYC -- yes, that's how long this fantastic omnibus of information took to listen to. Very disappointed to see an audio file only at ~3 hours long....blech.

Audible has some work to do.

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63 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Lance
  • 2011-09-24

Yergin's book is awesome... this abridged is not

His book should be required reading. Yergin and Audible shoudl be ashamed they have taken people's money with this abridgement.

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38 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Michael
  • 2013-07-02

Abridged to death

I did not notice this was abridged until I was well into the book. This was so abridged as to be nearly worthless. In addition, the story was quite bland, not quite journalism, not quite history, not very technical, not expressing a particular opinion. The narration was good. Having listened to The Quest (which was pretty good), if Audible adds the unabridged version, I might give this one an unabridged chance. I would not recommend this version to anyone.

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25 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Paul
  • 2012-04-26

Get the unabridged version

This is a very interesting book, but the abridged version is too abrupt. It's quite clear that something is missing.

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14 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Luis
  • 2011-10-03

Justa a short resume of the book

They cut out the history of the oil companies and only covered the politics of mid 20th century oil. Not good for me. I thought it was the full book.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Niall
  • 2010-03-23

Utterly dull and dreadful

Hugely interested in global macroeconimics and politices. Hugely disappointed by this snooze of a listen.

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6 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Kathleen P Hamilton
  • 2018-04-16

Disappointed

I am disappointed there isn’t an unabridged version. Too good of a book to skinny down. Shame

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5 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Van
  • 2009-10-18

Relatively boring

I found it hard to concentrate and listen to the book. The pace is quite quick in summing up historical events in the oil industry. It lacks a bit of coherence and behind the scenes analysis.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Ryan Bailey
  • 2012-08-02

No Justice to the Book

Any additional comments?

There is so much in the book that listening to this abridged version seemed cheap and I finished it feeling very frustrated. I wouldn't hestitate to buy an unabridged version. Better there is no version than something as pathetic as this.

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3 people found this helpful