Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth

by Rachel Maddow

**THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**

A ground-breaking investigation into the oil and gas industry, international corruption and world politics.

Oil.

Corrupt? Yes.

Unimaginably lucrative? Of course.

But, the enemy of democracy?

Blowout is the oil and gas industry as we've never seen it before, as told by America's most incisive political journalist, Rachel Maddow. A blackly comic journey from Washington to Siberia, to deep within the earth's crust and the icy Arctic seas, it reveals not just the greed and incompetence of Big Oil and Gas but why the Russian government hacked the 2016 U.S. election.

This is our final wake-up call: to stop subsidizing oil and gas, to fight for transparency, and to check the influence of the world's most destructive industry before it destroys our democracy

'Each page in Blowout is a revelation into the depth of corruption and greed that is infused into the international economy' David Lammy, MP

• ISBN10: 1473579775
• ISBN13: 9781473579774
• Publish Date: 6 February 2020 (first published 1 October 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Vintage Publishing
• Imprint: Vintage Digital
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 432
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Blowout is an absolutely chilling political commentary delineating the connections between the insanely profitable oil and gas industry, Russian government, big business, and the US government. Released 1st Oct 2019 by Crown, it's 370 pages and available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats.

Rachel Maddow is renowned for her biting commentary and no 'BS' political essays/podcasts/shows. More often than not, my political and philosophical feelings align with hers, so it's not really a surprise that in most ways, this book shocked, dismayed, and enraged, but didn't surprise me. Whether or not the reader agrees with her, the meticulous research and build-up of her exposition isn't really up for dispute. She knows what she's talking about and she builds up the connections step-by-step. This attention to detail means that the first half of this book can feel slow...but by the time she ties the disparate threads together, the extrapolated conclusions are foregone.

This was a difficult read for me. It's very easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless. The current news cycles spin at whiplash speed and I know more people who feel burnt out and disgusted (and apathetic) about the state of the political and commercial landscapes than who don't. The point that the author makes (and does so compellingly) is that more and more, the alliances which are the tectonic plates moving society and controlling life as we know it are not ones of political alliance or stateship, but commercial entities which owe allegiance only to the ridiculously wealthy men controlling them and making alliances across previously forbidden geopolitical lines. She puts it succinctly enough, "Powerful enemies make for big, difficult fights". I just hope we have enough energy and intelligence left to fight.

Five stars. Definitely a sure bet for people who enjoy intelligently written nonfiction.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Beth C.]

There are few people that can take a complicated subject, woven through with various *other* subjects seemingly at random, and make them ALL make sense. Rachel Maddow is one of those few. I bought this as soon as we got a copy in the store, and finished it last night. What I read made my head spin - not from confusion, but from frustration and anger at seeing just one more way that the oil and gas industry have ruined so much of the global world. Now, don't get me wrong - they have been necessary in many ways. But their push for profits over people, no matter the cost, is infuriating. I talked to a customer the other day who grew up in Oklahoma and knows first hand what Rachel speaks of in the book - and she got plainly irritated just speaking over the damage done in that state. Seeing so many names that I would not have recognized before, but now know from the current administration, just added fuel to the fire.

All is not lost, though. Rachel makes a helluva case, but she also uses Oklahoma as an example of what "we the people" can do when we've finally decided we've had enough. I'm truly hoping that the more people who read this book, the more we will have that will step up and say NO MORE.