Oil!

By: Upton Sinclair

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

As he did so masterfully in The Jungle, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Upton Sinclair interweaves social criticism with human tragedy to create an unforgettable portrait of Southern California's early oil industry.

Enraged by the oil scandals of the Harding administration in the 1920s, Sinclair tells a gripping tale of avarice, corruption, and class warfare, featuring a cavalcade of characters, including senators, oil magnates, Hollywood film starlets, and a crusading evangelist. Sinclair's glorious 1927 epic endures as one of our most powerful American novels of social injustice.

©1954 David Sinclair (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Sinclair's 1927 novel did for California's oil industry what The Jungle did for Chicago's meat-packing factories." ( Library Journal)

Absolutely Engrossing and topical

A fabulous listen from start to finish. Although the excellent film, "There Will Be Blood" was based on this book it only used a tiny portion of the plot which seems to have a special resonance with the current economic climate. I always liked reading Upton Sinclair but listening was even better. Possibly not a good read for anyone with far right politics though.

To long

The story is entertaining. It presents capitalist as greedy, and socialist as kind. The whole premise of the story is capitalism is bad, but socialist wouldn't have anything to take from others if not for capitalism. A good capitalist knows that a good employee is a happy one.

So little change in 100 years...

Would you recommend Oil! to your friends? Why or why not?

I would and have recommended it. It is sobering how many of the observations made by Sinclair in the 1920's are still relevant today.

Was Oil! worth the listening time?

It is a long book and is peppered with Sinclair's socialist leanings but, his observations of social issues are spot on. 100 years since the story and over and over it rings current...except that we are FAR more addicted to oil than in 1920 and we seem to be willing to do anything to anyone to keep it flowing.

This book drinks my milkshake!

If you're interested in this because you liked "There Will Be Blood," definitely give it a listen. The story goes into much greater depth about the social, political, and economic issues of the day. The relationship between father and son is complex and more realistic. Also, this version is read by Grover Gardner, one of my favorites. Great book; great performance.

Spectacular

This book is not There Will Be Blood. It's a magnificent story of how American capitalism greased it's wheels 100 years ago, and in fact still functions today.

The writing style is journalistic, brisk, and highly effective in putting the reader/listener into the heads of the various characters.

The narrator was superb.