Customer Reviews

The Taking of Getty Oil: The Full Story of the Most Spectacular - and Catastrophic - Takeover of All Time

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It is almost embarrasing that no previous reader reviews of this book have appeared in Amazon, the reason being, no doubt, that it was published prior to the inception of Amazon. This is an extremely good business book. Coll gives us a very concrete, blow by blow description of the events leading to the acquisition of Getty by Texaco. The story here does not tell itself; it is potentially very messy due to the large number of swirling conflicts and multiple personalities involved, and the inherent difficulty in sorting the multiple facets of the story out, and presenting them in a clear narrative line. Despite this potential murk, the story as it unfolds is extremely dramatic, twisting, turning, doubling back on itself, and popping out more than one totally unanticipated surprise. The book is as good as it is because of Coll's skill in clarifying all of this, and underlining, subtly, the constant micro-drama as it unfolds (it's not just the "big" actions that are dramatic, but lots of little moves along the way). Coll is also excellent in giving us a clear and concrete sense of the different personalities involved, without which the events themselves would be far less interesting. All in all, a very satisfying read.

I first read this book shortly after it was originally published. It's still a fascinating story although current readers will consider the numbers involved rather quaint. Still, as a observation on human nature, it just goes to show that the more things change, the more they stay the same.