Product Details

• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: A&E Home Video
• DVD Release Date: December 27, 2005
• Run Time: 50 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000BKVL8E
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,185 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

The most valuable substance on earth has brought wealth to poor nations and nearly bankrupted wealthy ones. It has created cities overnight--sometimes destroying them just as quickly--and has caused rampant international warfare. When a Canadian chemist found a way to turn petroleum into kerosene in the 1850s, the need for oil exploded. "Black gold" burns at the heart of the modern age, making those who control it the wealthiest and most powerful men on earth. Black Gold: The Story of Oil narrates the stories of these men--including John D. Rockefeller and William Mellon--and the empires they built. Learn how oil came to dominate American industry--and about the nation's current dependency--and discover why the resource continues to cause global flare-ups. EMPIRES OF INDUSTRY presents the comprehensive history of "black gold," the resource that continues to govern our world. DVD Features: Interactive Menus; Scene Selection

Empires of Industry

Empires of Industry is a mini-series which explores the cornerstones of America's economic might that established the United States as a world leader. Each of the one hour programs in this remarkable series focuses on an industry which played a unique role in America's rise to world economic dominance. The stories of changing fortunes in the steel, coal, brewing, ship building and textile industries reveal much about our country's past and present. Empires of Industry would be useful for classes on American History, History of Science and Technology, Economics and American Culture. It is appropriate for middle school and high school.

Black Gold: The Story of Oil

Modern America depends on a steady source of petroleum and petroleum by-products to satisfy its ever-increasing and voracious appetite for fuel. Oil, the “black gold” of the ground, is one of America’s most precious and abundant commodities, and yet America still need’s the oil exports of Arab nations to fill its need. Black Gold, The Story of Oil chronicles the birth and rise of the oil industry in the United States, from its fledgling beginnings, through the days of John D. Rockefeller and the robber barons, to the Gulf War and the present.

Vocabulary

• antithesis
• apex
• commodity
• cower
• culmination
• deploy
• derivative
• embers
• extract
• extrovert
• illuminant
• introvert
• invincible
• kerosene
• monopoly
• oblivion
• persistence
• resolve
• sovereign
• tailspin

Discussion Questions

1. Oil is sometimes called “black gold.” Why is it called by this name?

2. Prior to the discovery of kerosene, Americans illuminated their homes with candles or whale oil. How did kerosene change the lives of Americans? How did the discovery of kerosene change the process of gathering petroleum?

3. What is persistence? How did Edwin Drake’s persistence finally pay off? What other figures in American history have displayed remarkable persistence?

4. Standard Oil made John D. Rockefeller one of the richest men in American history. How and why did Rockefeller get into the oil business?

5. Discuss the concept of a boom/bust economy and the boom/bust towns that surrounded the oil industry. What industries today still have boom/bust characteristics?

6. How did Standard Oil eliminate most of its competition?

7. Besides being one of the richest men in America, John D. Rockefeller was also one of the most criticized. Why did Rockefeller face so much criticism?

8. Why did Thomas Edison’s light bulb threaten the oil industry?

9. How did the automobile industry save the oil industry?

10. In the early years of the 20th century, Spindle Top in Texas erupted into the largest oil well in America. How did Spindle Top change the oil industry?

11. What is OPEC? Why did it place and embargo on the United States in the 1970s? What were the results?

Extended Activities

1. Create a poster that illustrates the uses for petroleum and petroleum by-products and also suggests some other alternatives for these products.

2. Imagine that you are a newspaper reporter. Write an account of the eruption of Spindle Top that conveys the magnitude of this oil strike to your readers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bad Black Gold, October 7, 2008

By 

Robin KNC - See all my reviews

This review is from: Empires of Industry: Black Gold - The Story of Oil (DVD)

Having read Daniel Yergin's epic on the oil industry (The Prize) I was expecting much much more from this DVD. I must say after viewing its less than 1 hour effort I am utterly disappointed. To begin with, Amazon.com should make it mandatory for each DVD on sale to state the length of the production. This is basic product information and I wonder why we need to get this information from customer reviews when available. After a 5 hour "The Story of India" and a 4-disc "The Universe" my expectations were for a 2 hour presentation at the least.

This DVD has not enough coverage and depth for its price. It focused mainly on the origins of oil in the USA and thereafter demands for it, firstly for kerosene lighting and thereafter during the automobile craze in the USA. It largely ignored the development of the oil industry in Persian Gulf countries, Mexico, South Amercia and parts of Asia and the politics surrounding oil during World War II.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Black Gold Barely Glitters, June 20, 2009

By 

Bryan Carey "Bryan Carey" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Empires of Industry: Black Gold - The Story of Oil (DVD)

Black Gold: The Story of Oil is a simple educational documentary about the growth of the oil industry in the United States and how oil has shaped both our economy and our perceptions of big business. This documentary aims to educate the viewer about the rise of oil and its significance to business and commerce in the United States from the middle 1800's to the present.

The subject of oil is certainly one that most anyone can relate, for it ranks among a handful of products that most every person in the United States purchases on a regular basis and its price can wreck havoc on the U.S. economy- both on a personal and business level. This History Channel documentary traces the beginnings of the modern oil age from the development of kerosene to the advent of the automobile and its reliance on gasoline. This documentary includes historical anecdotes along with commentary from University Professors such as Dr. Tony Spiva, Dr. John Grabowski, Dr. JoAnn Stiles, and others who work in the petroleum industry. These individuals help to explain the historical significance of oil and how it has changed the way we live. They offer commentary on John D. Rockefeller and his Standard Oil behemoth, along with some educational insights on men like Henry Flagler, Atillo Higgins, and Abraham Gesner who were very important to the rise of big oil. This documentary does a good job acquanting the viewer with these important men of oil and how they influenced the direction of the industry.

The History Channel's documentaries are usually good for educational purposes but they are not always consistent and this documentary is certainly one of History Channel's less memorable documentaries. The main problem I have with this documentary is that it tries to cram too much information into too short of a presentation. This documentary is only fifty minutes in length and when you think about the significance of oil and the many colorful personalities and world events that have shaped and been shaped by petroleum, it should be obvious that fifty minutes isn't enough time to cover what needs to be covered. This fact is especially true near the end of the documentary when the scenes and commentary rush quickly from the overdependence on petroleum, to the Arab oil embargo in 1973, to the 1990 Gulf War. In a matter of minutes, we go from happy days, to overconsumption, to shortage, to war. Then, the documentary suddenly ends, leaving the viewer with a feeling of uncertainty about the future.

The way the History Channel made Black Gold, it seems most suitable for a high school history class or possibly a high school business class. It is short enough to fit within the time slot of most classes and it could be followed with a few brief questions to test the knowledge that the students gained. But it is really too brief to make it a worthwhile documentaty about the oil industry and its storied past. A subject like the oil industry needs to be examined with a series of documentaries. Fifty minutes isn't even long enough to adequately cover a single aspect of the industry, much less a span of time that covers 150 years.

Black Gold offers some good commentary contributed by the professors and oil industry experts, but it is too short to include the necessary material that one would expect in a great documentary, making it worthy of only a middle rating. It isn't bad, but I expected something much greater.

29 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An Industry Public Relations Effort passed off as "History", July 10, 2006

By 

Jason Grant Mckahan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Empires of Industry: Black Gold - The Story of Oil (DVD)

This documentary is very informative as it pertains to the development of the big oil corporations, Standard, Gulf and Texaco in the U.S. It is rather odd that it passes through the 1930s with no mention of Middle East fields, that is until the 1970s (!) with the "oil weapon" of OPEC (which actually formed in the early 1960s) and gas embargo. One will find no mention of the role that oil corporations played in transforming merchant and Navy ships to oil during WWI, hence acquiring a "key" to the U.S. Treasury through "national security" rhetoric. One will find no mention of how the U.S. corporations muscled out British imperial influence in Saudi Arabia before WWII. Nor how western oil corporations both finagled in the sovereignty of foreign nations through supporting autocratic regimes and military coups using cynical anti-communist (and later human rights and "terrorist") justifications (Iran, Iraq, Latin America, Indonesia, Sudan, etc.). Nor is there any mention of the importance of controlling Middle East oil to rebuild Europe and Japan after WWII (nor the important, perhaps even central, role of oil in igniting that war!). Finally, not a peep about the escalation of petrochemical production and its environmental effect, not to mention emissions and global warming. This documentary is vastly compromised by the industry perspective, yet informative, if supplemented by other readings and documentaries (such as The Corporation, or Hidden Wars of Desert Storm).