- Paperback: 312 pages
- Publisher: Pluto Press; New edition edition (20 Oct 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 074532309X
- ISBN-13: 978-0745323091
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.7 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 448,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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For those truly interested about how the world economy functions, this book will be greatly useful. The book treats especially well the political goals of Britain, a thread in modern history all too often overlooked. (Stephen J. Lewis, economist, City of London )
This book is the only accurate account I have seen of what really happened with the price of oil in 1973. I can strongly recommend reading it. (Sheikh Zaki Yamani, former Oil Minister of Saudi Arabia )
A more thrilling account of the real world than the most thrilling fictional thriller. I could not put it down - and I learned an enormous amount of important information. (Andre Gunder Frank )
... intellectually penetrating in its grasp of the conditions under which politicians have to operate in the modern world, The scholarship is impeccable and it elucidates the lamentable record of the crimes and fillies of the few who stretched the levers of power almost to the breaking point. I recommend this book to all who wish to know how the world is really run, what are the systems behind the sub-systems we perceive in the daily media, and what are the antecedents of the present global political dilemmas. Above all, I recommend this book to readers in the Third World as a faithful account of why my generation of political leaders failed to achieve the reasonable expectation of their political constituencies... (Dr Frederick Wills, former Foreign Minister, Guyana )
This book is not for the timid or the inattentive. It gets down to bed-rock... It is a fine bit of work and defines better the real problem areas of our society... (Col Fletcher Prouty, USAF (ret.), author, The Secret Team and the real life of Mr.X and JFK movie. )
...one of the most readable books I have ever seen. It will shock people, but it is needed. William Engdahl has found a common thread that ties hundreds of events which , at first glance appear to be unassociated... fully surpasses my standards for a worthwhile book (Leon D. Richardson, Far East Financial columnist, industrialist, advisory board, Sloan School of Management, MIT )
This book is the only accurate account I have seen of what really happened with the price of oil in 1973. I can strongly recommend reading it. (Sheikh Zaki Yamani, former Oil Minister of Saudi Arabia )
A more thrilling account of the real world than the most thrilling fictional thriller. I could not put it down - and I learned an enormous amount of important information. (Andre Gunder Frank )
... intellectually penetrating in its grasp of the conditions under which politicians have to operate in the modern world, The scholarship is impeccable and it elucidates the lamentable record of the crimes and fillies of the few who stretched the levers of power almost to the breaking point. I recommend this book to all who wish to know how the world is really run, what are the systems behind the sub-systems we perceive in the daily media, and what are the antecedents of the present global political dilemmas. Above all, I recommend this book to readers in the Third World as a faithful account of why my generation of political leaders failed to achieve the reasonable expectation of their political constituencies... (Dr Frederick Wills, former Foreign Minister, Guyana )
This book is not for the timid or the inattentive. It gets down to bed-rock... It is a fine bit of work and defines better the real problem areas of our society... (Col Fletcher Prouty, USAF (ret.), author, The Secret Team and the real life of Mr.X and JFK movie. )
...one of the most readable books I have ever seen. It will shock people, but it is needed. William Engdahl has found a common thread that ties hundreds of events which , at first glance appear to be unassociated... fully surpasses my standards for a worthwhile book (Leon D. Richardson, Far East Financial columnist, industrialist, advisory board, Sloan School of Management, MIT )
Leon D. Richardson, Far East Financial columnist, industrialist, advisory board, Sloan School of Management, Massachussetts Institute of Technology
.. one of the most readable books I have ever seen. It will shock people, but it is needed.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
H. Kissinger has said: 'control energy and you control the nations.'
W. Engdahl explains the all importance of oil in world domination, and more specifically its geopolitical, military, economic and financial impact.
W. Engdahl explains the all importance of oil in world domination, and more specifically its geopolitical, military, economic and financial impact.
Oil became for the first time an important raw material during World War I, when air, mobile tank and swifter naval warfare held the upper hand.
After WW I the British sought to secure their petroleum supplies, by creating the League of Nations, which was only a facade of international legitimacy to a naked imperial seizure of territory.
British imperial power was based on 3 pillars: control of world sea-lines, of world banking and finance and of strategic raw materials. Through its free trade policy (liberalism) it tried to preserve and to serve the interests of an exclusive private power: a tiny number of bankers and institutions of the City of London.
Its hegemony was attacked and replaced by the US after WW II, confirmed by the Bretton-Woods Agreements with the creation of the IMF and the World bank.
The new hegemon was (and is ) built on 2 pillars: military power and the dollar, but those pillars are fundamentally intertwined with one commodity: petroleum, the basis of the world economy's growth engine.
10 % of the Marshall aid to Europe after WW II served to buy US oil. The big US oil companies asked top dollars for their exports and obtained also that the aid could not be used to build refineries.
The Vietnam war constituted a massive diversion of the US industry into the production of defense goods (pillar 1).
The first oil shock of 1973 made the US banks the giants of world banking and the oil companies the giants of world industry: 'The artificial oil price inflation was a manipulation of the world economy of such a hideous dimension that it created an unprecedented transfer of the wealth of the entire world into the hands of a tiny minority. It was no less than a global world taxation through petrodollars.' (pillar 2, confirmed by Sheikh Zaki Yamani).
The oil companies also took the 'blossom of the nuclear rose'.
A cardinal goal of US foreign and military policy is control of every major existing and potential oil source. Such control would permit it to decide who gets how much energy and at what price: 'a true weapon of mass destruction'.
William Engdahl's brilliant but frightening analysis puts in the same framework Iraq, the Balkan wars, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergency of the oligarchs, the financial crises across Asia, the civil wars in Africa, the IMF and World bank policies, the fall of the Shah (after the collapse of the negotiations with BP), as well as the murders or 'accidental' deaths of W. Rathenau, I. Krueger, E. Mattei, J. Ponto and A. Moro.
At the start of the new millenium, the US has a near monopoly on military technology and might, commands the world's reserve currency and is able to control the assets of much of the industrial world. It fights for a near monopoly on future energy resources; in other words, for 'full spectrum dominance'.
William Engdahl has written an eye opening, fascinating but extremely dark book.
A must read.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a must read book for anyone who is interested in learning the truth behind the headlines relating to many recent events. From the Falklands War to the current war in Iraq, this book analysis the economic factors that lead to - or in some way influenced - some of the major global events in modern history.
It explores in detail the relationships, theories and possible motives behind them without ever descending into crazy 'conspiracy' theories.
I've bought this book for a number of people and urge anyone who has an interest in the world around them to read it.
It explores in detail the relationships, theories and possible motives behind them without ever descending into crazy 'conspiracy' theories.
I've bought this book for a number of people and urge anyone who has an interest in the world around them to read it.
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Get it. Read it. Then read it again. Don't take everything he writes as gospel, read around and google around...you'll need to anyway as he is so sparse on references.
If you believe that the UK and the US are altruists bringing peace, harmony and democracy to the world, simply from the goodness of their hearts (and bottomless pockets) then you may be in for a shock. If you want a crash course on money, banking, the military/industrial complex and an assessment of the New World Order aimed at adults rather than the juvenile audience of CNN and the BBC then this book is an excellent primer.
If you believe that the UK and the US are altruists bringing peace, harmony and democracy to the world, simply from the goodness of their hearts (and bottomless pockets) then you may be in for a shock. If you want a crash course on money, banking, the military/industrial complex and an assessment of the New World Order aimed at adults rather than the juvenile audience of CNN and the BBC then this book is an excellent primer.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A century of conspiracy
This book is an absoloute joke, some of the claims made in it are absoloutely absurd its like reading a conspiracy theory. Read more
Published 15 months ago by J. Maddison
The Hidden History Behind the Rise of Power
"A Century of War" defines the centres of power behind the events that have shaped modern civilization. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Ila France Porcher, author of My Sunset Rendezvous
Unacademic and conspiracy minded
Whilst some aspects of this book are interesting, the writing style is not particularly academic - several sweeping arguments in the new preface are a big warning sign. Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2008 by P. J. Harding
High hopes but ultimately not very satisfying.
Having recently read Richard Heinberg's The Party's Over and Paul Roberts End of Oil I thought that this book would prove an interesting companion piece. Read more
Published on 23 Sep 2007 by J. New
Excellent Book
If you every wondered WHY we are "suddenly" chasing OIL half-way around the world, while America is kept in the dark - READ this book. Read more
Published on 11 May 2006 by C. Ross
chilling
This is one of the best books i have ever read- i read it twice since some of the information is so important.
This book re-writes history as never before. Read more
This book re-writes history as never before. Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2006 by Dr. P. Dhillon
spooky
If you believe that the brits started the first and second world war then you'll love this book. oh yes and the CIA were responsible for giving the worlds hippies. Read more
Published on 11 Aug 2005 by Robert Younger
An eye-opener
This book is a must-have for everyone who wants to understand the political situation in todays's world. Some things are unbelievable, but the arguments are unbeatable.
Published on 23 Dec 2003
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