Oil – A Concise Guide to the Most Important Product on Earth

Every day, the United States consumes more than 18 million barrels of oil, an amount equivalent to the daily usage of Europe and the states of the former Soviet Union combined. The majority of this oil goes into cars, trucks, and SUVs in the form of gasoline. Indeed, one barrel of oil out of every seven produced in the world is destined to fill the tanks of cars in America. In Oil, Matthew Yeomans explores the role of oil in America — from driving the U.S. economic engine to consolidating the U.S.’s position as unilateral superpower — and explains the American consumer’s love affair with gasoline and the automobile. Along the way, Yeomans offers a brief history of gasoline: where oil comes from, how the global crude oil market works, and how the price of oil is regulated and set.