A review by rebeccazh
Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth by Rachel Maddow

challenging dark funny medium-paced

4.5

A repulsive read in the sense that reading about fracking and the disgusting oil barons repulsed me - both because of the environmental damage done and the absolutely inhumane way these 1%-ers think and behave. With that said, I'm not sure that the chapters all tie together. The ones about the corruption and repulsiveness of the oil barons and Putin don't seem to tie well with the smaller stories about Aubrey McCleddon and the teachers of Oklahoma etc. 

Maddow's writing gets a full 5 stars from me though: witty and biting, obsessively and comprehensively detailed. Learnt a lot of interesting facts and insights. Also left me to appreciate more fully that the electricity that I take for granted for everything from turning on the lights and fan, using the computer, hot water, etc., comes at a great cost to the earth (the descriptions of fracking are vivid and terrible).

I wouldn't recommend this as an introduction to the topic, because the book's almost exclusive focus on current events as of the book's publication makes it feel both specific and dated, but this is nonetheless an eye-opening account of some of the things that went down in the history of the oil and gas industry and of Russia.