William Engdahl takes the reader through the history of how seven giant oil companies - five American and two British - developed a controlling grip on the world's economy unprecedented in history. This is no ordinary history of oil. It is a history of global politics, more precisely of global geopolitics - how control of strategic geographical pivot regions first British and later American interests to control in large part the world economy.

The book sheds light for the first time on such events as the 1973 oil shock - a sudden 400% rise in the price of the world's most essential commodity in a matter of weeks. What William Engdahl reveals, with flawless documentation, will shock most people. The implications are even more devastating. He also documents how oil played an essential role in the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union, in the rise and fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, in the US occupation of Iraq and countless other events not normally understood in such a light.

Contents: Ch. 1. The Three Pillars of the British Empire. Ch. 2. The Lines are Drawn: Germany and the Geopolitics of the Great War. Ch. 3. A Global Fight for Control of Petroleum Begins. Ch. 4. Oil Becomes the Weapon, the Near East the Battleground. Ch. 5.Combined & Conflicting Goals: U.S. Rivals Britain. Ch. 6. The Anglo-Americans Close Ranks. Ch. 7. Oil and a New World Order of Bretton Woods. Ch, 8. A Sterling Crisis and the Adenauer-de Gaulle Threat. Ch. 9. Running the World Economy in Reverse: Who Made the 1970's Oil Shocks? Ch. 10. Europe, Japan and a Response to the Oil Shock. Ch. 11. Imposing the New World Order. Ch. 12. From Evil Empire to the Axis of Evil. Ch. 13. A New Millennium for Oil Geopolitics.

Engdahl has written on issues of oil, finance, economics, and geopolitics for more than thirty years. His books have been translated into more than nine languages. He has contributed regularly to numerous international publications including Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun, China Business News, Asia Inc., Grant's Interest Rate Observer, European Banker, Eurasia and other publications.