The Rise and Fall of OPEC in the Twentieth Century

The meticulous reconstruction that Garavini makes of the events inside the individual petrostats and their intertwining with the strategies of the companies and government policies is commendable and compelling. * Il Fattoquotidiano (translated from Italian) * The impressive list of consulted archives is perhaps the most obvious strength of the book ... Overall ... Offers an assured history of the organisation [...] with special credit given to the impressive width of sources. * H/Soz/Kult * ... the emphasis on environmental aspects is a further innovative element of this book, which is too often overlooked in OPEC's historiography. Garavini's text highlights how concerns and overconsumption in industrialised countries and the exhaustion of natural resources becomes crucial already after the turning point of 1973 - and are still essential today. * Flavio Fusco, The International Spectator * ... a welcome addition to the literature ...[Garavini] leverages the previously unavailable minutes of OPEC conferences ... as well as his deep expertise about and clear passion for the subject, to pen a fresh account, full of enduring lessons for today, of the history of the world's most prolific oil organizations ... Vital reading for historians of oil and anyone interested in political economy or the Middle East. * John Bowlus, Energy-Reporters.com * For any scholar interested in the history of energy and petroleum, oil and gas development, energy market development and petroleum studies more broadly, the academic thrill and writing finesse in perusing the chapter of this book is unprecedented. The author, a top-notch historian on energy and petroleum history, presents a well-researched and detailed account... capitvating and a rich source of broad, detailed and deep knowledge... * Energy * ... a unique look into the organisation's internal decision-making... detailed and carefully researched book... a corrective to western-centric accounts of the organisation and an essential read for those trying to understand the forces that built the modern energy world and the Middle East... also a reminder that tacticians and strategists of a high calibre will be needed to lead Opec into its seventh decade. * Robin Mills, The National * Garavini's book is well researched and full of interesting details. * Gerald Butt, Petroleum Economist * convincing history of the organization * Jonas Kreienbaum, Historical Institute, University Rostock * Garavini has made an important contribution to the history of the oil resource ... The author's courage to pursue a large number of actors over a long period of time leads to a complex narrative that will be the reference to OPEC's history for the foreseeable future... * Clemens Huemeriehner, Sehepunkte * No book about oil and the world economy has had more of an impact than Daniel Yergin's 1990 masterpiece The Prize [...] It may not get its own miniseries, but Giuliano Garavini's Rise and Fall of OPEC in the Twentieth Century is no less groundbreaking for its subject. * Michael Franczak, Cold War History * Garavini's study [is] an essential source for those who have an interest in the history of OPEC and oil-producing countries, providing unprecedented details in a book that is incredibly well researched and updated. * The International Spectator * The thesis of The Rise and Fall of OPEC is that the international cooperation among petrostates has constituted one of the most powerful drivers of the international history of the 20th Century * Adriana Castagnoli, Il Sole 24 Ore [translated] * This is not just a book about oil markets, the economy, and the oil industry. Scholars of energy and geopolitics will find a succinct and focused analysis of the development of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) 'petrostates,' the organization itself and the role it played the economic and political development of the twentieth century. * Ellen R. Wald * The Rise and Fall of OPEC in the Twentieth Century is an outstanding contribution to the international history of the twentieth century and deserves a wide audience. * David Painter * Garavini's book is more than a history of OPEC, one of the most recognizable acronyms in the world (9). It aspires to be a global history of oil's role in shaping the twentieth century. * Gregory Brew * Garavini does much more than simply set the record straight. He reorients our view of the international organization away from the overblown and exaggerated accounts of oil-weapon-wielding-sovereigns holding the West hostage. * Robert Vitalis * The Rise and Fall of OPEC is a masterful book that contradicts the well-worn but essentialist understandings of oil as the root of authoritarianism, Middle East wars or environmental catastrophe. * Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History *