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Upton Sinclair
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Oil! Paperback – December 18, 2007

by Upton Sinclair (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 743 ratings
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The classic novel that inspired the Academy award-winning film, There Will Be Blood.

Penguin Books is proud to now be the sole publisher of Oil!, the classic 1927 novel by Upton Sinclair. After writing The Jungle, his scathing indictment of the meatpacking industry, Sinclair turned his sights on the early days of the California oil industry in a highly entertaining story featuring a cavalcade of characters including senators, oil magnets, Hollywood film starlets, and a crusading evangelist.

This lively and panoramic book, which was recently cited by David Denby in the New Yorker as being Sinclair’s “most readable” novel, is now the inspiration for the Paramount Vantage major motion picture, There Will Be Blood. It is the long-awaited film from Paul Thomas Anderson, one of the most admired filmmakers working today whose previous movies, Boogie Nights and Magnolia were both multiple Academy Award nominees. The movie stars Oscar-winner Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York, My Left Foot) and Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine).

Paramount Vantage will be releasing the film in New York and Los Angeles on December 26, 2007 and go nationwide in January. This is the same company responsible for Babel and A Mighty Heart and the current releases, Into the Wild, Margot at the Wedding, and The Kite Runner.

As wars rage on in the oil region and as anxiety over natural resources rise, the subject of this book, which celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2007, is more timely than ever.

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  1. Print length
    560 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin Books
  4. Publication date
    December 18, 2007
  5. Dimensions
    1 x 5.05 x 7.69 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9780143112266
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0143112266
  8. Lexile measure
    1150L
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A classic tale of greed and corruption”—Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation

“[Oil! is] probably his second best book and certainly his most readable.”—The New Yorker

“Anderson's film is a true American saga—one that rivals Giant and Citizen Kane in our popular lore as origin stories about how we came to be the people we are… Daniel Day-Lewis is at his brilliant best as the story's Daniel Plainview, a man whose humanity diminishes as his fortunes increase.”—Variety

About the Author

Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) was born in Baltimore. At age fifteen, he began writing a series of dime novels in order to pay for his education at the City College of New York. He was later accepted to do graduate work at Columbia, and while there he published a number of novels, including The Journal of Arthur Stirling (1903) and Manassas (1904). Sinclair’s breakthrough came in 1906 with the publication of The Jungle, a scathing indictment of the Chicago meat-packing industry. His later works include World’s End (1940), Dragon’s Teeth (1942), which won him a Pulitzer Prize, O Shepherd, Speak! (1949) and Another Pamela (1950).

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0143112260
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; Media tie-in edition (December 18, 2007)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 560 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780143112266
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0143112266
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1150L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 1 x 5.05 x 7.69 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 743 ratings

About the author

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Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair

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Upton Beall Sinclair, Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American author who wrote nearly 100 books and other works across a number of genres. Sinclair's work was well-known and popular in the first half of the twentieth century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943.

In 1906, Sinclair acquired particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle, which exposed conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. In 1919, he published The Brass Check, a muckraking exposé of American journalism that publicized the issue of yellow journalism and the limitations of the “free press” in the United States. Four years after publication of The Brass Check, the first code of ethics for journalists was created. Time magazine called him "a man with every gift except humor and silence." He is remembered for writing the famous line: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon him not understanding it."

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
743 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book to be a good read. They describe the story as interesting, fictional, and historical. Readers say the book provides a visionary and enlightening historical picture of the evolution of the oil economy. They also appreciate the detailed characters and real descriptions. Opinions are mixed on the writing style, with some finding it slick and accessible, while others say it's repetitive.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more
ReadabilityStory interestRelevanceCharacter developmentWriting stylePacing
38 customers mention "Readability"31 positive7 negative

Customers find the book interesting and a good read. They say it gets better after the first hundred pages. Readers also mention the first half is relatively satisfying and entertaining.

"...Sinclair's book is a worthwhile read not only for its striking similarities to our own times, which many people have already stated...." Read more

"A pleasure to read, hard to take as it traces social-political conflicts in early Los Angeles...." Read more

"...If these subjects reflect your interest, this is a fine book...." Read more

"...This is a very informative and enjoyable read. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of the oil industry in California." Read more

20 customers mention "Story interest"20 positive0 negative

Customers find the story interesting, fictional, and exciting. They say it's a great historical drama that changes quite a bit. Readers also mention the book satisfies a degree of historical interest about the development of oil.

"...It was incredibly interesting to read Sinclair's version of how derricks were built, maintained, and occasionally destroyed...." Read more

"This is a great fictional story based on the real life of Edward Doheny, who was from my home town of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin...." Read more

"...Vivid characters, heart-ripping events, everything based on reality...." Read more

"...If you've seen the movie, the book becomes particularly interesting so you can see what is being withheld from you. If you do decide to read..." Read more

11 customers mention "Relevance"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book relevant. They say it provides a visionary and enlightening historical picture of the evolution of the oil economy. Readers also mention the book is thought-provoking and timeless.

"...This is a very informative and enjoyable read. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of the oil industry in California." Read more

"..."Oil" is much more interesting in its complexity; the father in the book is neither a villian nor a hero, he just wants to do the "right thing"..." Read more

"...This book is a classic, and it's packed with more information than you'll ever need to demonstrate the perils of capitalism AND communism, and the..." Read more

"I absolutely love this story! It's interesting, purposeful, and still relavent almost a century after the first publication...." Read more

10 customers mention "Character development"7 positive3 negative

Customers find the characters detailed and real.

"...Sinclair's descriptions are so real that I can smell the orange groves and the oil from a gusher and his characters are portrayed as real people...." Read more

"...Upton Sinclair does an excellent job of character development and expertly weaves together the lives of his many characters -- including one..." Read more

"...Didn't care for his writing with the overly complex characters that meant little to the plot or climax...." Read more

"...Vivid characters, heart-ripping events, everything based on reality...." Read more

14 customers mention "Writing style"7 positive7 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the writing style of the book. Some mention it's slick, accessible, and easy to read. However, others say it's repetitive, politically wishy-washy, and excessively wordy.

"Sinclair's writing style is gregarious, repetitive...." Read more

"...And he was anything but silent. His writing was wordy, dated, much too flowery, and obsessed with off topic information...." Read more

"...repetitive, but the saving grace is that I found Sinclair’s writing to be accessible with the right amount of detail where needed...." Read more

"...His writing is repetitive, politically wishy-washy on most points in regards to his protagonist and just generally becomes really boring...." Read more

8 customers mention "Pacing"3 positive5 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book. Some mention it's slow-moving, while others say it's too slow.

"...Also, the book is a bit longer than I would have liked. The 2nd half feels slow because it is repetitive, but the saving grace is that I found..." Read more

"...This is a fast moving story that tells of the early years, and greed, of the oil industry...." Read more

"...The back 2/3's of the book are just too slow. Too bad - the first third of the book is GREAT - wish it could have kept it up!" Read more

"...have come out recently, I didn't finish this book because it moved to slow for my taste. I like "The Jungle" by the same author much better." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Jazzmama
5.0 out of 5 stars If you like early 20th century writers, this is your man.
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2007
Verified Purchase
Sinclair's writing style is gregarious, repetitive. He hits you on the head with the 'poor working class stiff' schtick, but if you can get past it, what he's describing is actually quite interesting. Sinclair's book is a worthwhile read not only for its striking similarities to our own times, which many people have already stated. But his depictions of the early 20th century in southern California, the social mores, the living conditions, the locations -- are all his images, as he experienced them, or imagined them. They may not have been 'real' but they are certainly what we no longer experience. Los Angeles and Long Beach with derricks, dirt road travelling, working class lives, oak forests in places no longer existant, oil derrick explosions. It was incredibly interesting to read Sinclair's version of how derricks were built, maintained, and occasionally destroyed. Highly recommended for California early 20th century history buffs.
13 people found this helpful
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CityGardener
4.0 out of 5 stars Based on true events, not for the faint-hearted
Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2023
Verified Purchase
A pleasure to read, hard to take as it traces social-political conflicts in early Los Angeles. It’s very long, and relentlessly realistic, so often had to put it down for a breather. Both muck-raking and satirical, nobody is perfectly good or evil, the protagonists don’t get a break, and the villains don’t get redeemed. Recommended.
2 people found this helpful
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av8r567
5.0 out of 5 stars great price. great quality.
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2024
Verified Purchase
great price. great quality.
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Schuyler T Wallace
3.0 out of 5 stars MORE POLITICS THAN PETROLEUM
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2013
Verified Purchase
Upton Sinclair, 1878-1968, was a prolific and controversial writer, most often thought of as a muckraker and social activist. He often used the novel with heavily researched factual information as its backdrop to espouse his socialist beliefs. He wrote nearly one hundred books, the most famous probably being THE JUNGLE, first published in 1906. I was fascinated by his accounts of the meatpacking industry and living conditions in Chicago at that time and have used that information many times to shock listeners and readers into being more careful about their view of American institutions and politics.

In his 1927 fictional account of the oil industry in California, aptly entitled OIL!, he relies heavily on his socialistic convictions in detailing the petroleum industry, its corrupt leaders, exploitation of workers, and political corruption. In fact I found these topics heavily overshadowing the pioneering achievements of the oil industry, thus creating a distraction for one who wanted to read about the actual exploration, drilling procedures, production, and marketing of petroleum in an industry into which I was born. Indeed I considered the award-winning movie "There Will Be Blood", reportedly loosely based on this book, to be a history of my grandfather's life in oil-rich California's Kern County, although hopefully he wasn't involved in the horrific violence and mayhem portrayed by Hollywood. I say loosely based because I didn't see much of the movie's premise in the book.

A father and son have a divisive relationship of finding and developing oil in a partnership that seems almost bogus on its face. There's the old school oilman, once a mule skinner, who is relentless in his drive to increase the size of his black gold fortune. The son, spoiled by his easy access to the profits, adopts fervor for the socialistic movement of the early 1920s, and is a constant threat to the economic welfare of the industry that funds his playboy life. The father not only accepts the son's activity but almost seems to get enjoyment from it. Sinclair promotes the ideals of socialism versus the evils of communism throughout the book. In fact, the reader is indoctrinated thoroughly about the two concepts as well as the efforts to introduce both ideologies into America. Sinclair also took the opportunity to inject his interest in the occult and telepathy into the story's pages. If these subjects reflect your interest, this is a fine book. If, however, you want to learn more about the oil industry, I suggest you look elsewhere.

The author was described by Time magazine as "a man with every gift except humor and silence." There were attempts at humor in this book but, when recognized, were scarcely humorous. And he was anything but silent. His writing was wordy, dated, much too flowery, and obsessed with off topic information. If you like controversial political idealism, you might enjoy the book. If your interest is more industry oriented, you'll probably want to look elsewhere.

Schuyler T Wallace
Author of TIN LIZARD TALES
4 people found this helpful
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M. Mowbray
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable Story from 80 Years Ago
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2008
Verified Purchase
This is a great fictional story based on the real life of Edward Doheny, who was from my home town of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Doheny was a larger than life character and is well known in California.
I somehow missed reading any of Upton Sinclair's work over the years and now I know what I have missed. This is a fast moving story that tells of the early years, and greed, of the oil industry. Sinclair's descriptions are so real that I can smell the orange groves and the oil from a gusher and his characters are portrayed as real people. This is a very informative and enjoyable read. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of the oil industry in California.
6 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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wanderer
5.0 out of 5 stars Good copy of great old book
Reviewed in Canada on June 19, 2023
Verified Purchase
Cover good, print good. Nice to be able to read old books.
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Francesca
5.0 out of 5 stars Regalo super apprezzato
Reviewed in Italy on March 5, 2024
Verified Purchase
Ho acquistato questo libro come regalo per il mio ragazzo. "Il Petroliere", tratto proprio da questo, è il suo film preferito e il suo feedback dopo la lettura è stato al pari del film.
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leonardo
5.0 out of 5 stars Oil
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 27, 2024
Verified Purchase
Great story.
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007
5.0 out of 5 stars Viel mehr als die Vorlage zum Film
Reviewed in Germany on January 29, 2023
Verified Purchase
Upton Sinclair (1878 - 1968) ist den meisten - wenn überhaupt - durch "Der Dschungel" bekannt. Er war ein hervorragender Sozialkritker des US amerikanischen Staates und Gesellschaftssystems. Leider ist die Verfilmung weit weg von der Qualität und der Story des Buches. Sehr lesenswert... Außerdem zu empfehlen von ihm "The Carpenter".
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Cesar Adrian Bajonero Acosta
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente estado.
Reviewed in Mexico on January 15, 2021
Verified Purchase
Buscaba una versión hardcover, pero este formato fue más práctico para la persona a quien se lo regale. Librazo.
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