The Oil and the Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea

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Mr. LeVine has done a truly exceptional job of documenting decades of oil & gas pursuits in the Caspian Sea. As one of the people mentioned in this book, I can attest to the accuracy of this highly detailed account of what actually happened back in the 90's, as so many international oil players descended on the Central Asian Caspian nations and Russia, looking for high stakes oil & gas exploration, production and pipeline deals. Unscrupulous "middlemen" successfully "wedged" themselves into many of the deals, and outsmarted some of the industry's brightest players. This book should be required reading for anyone involved in international negotiations, not only involving areas of the Former Soviet Union, but elsewhere.Mr. LeVine provides the reader with a tremendous amount of behind the scenes detail relating to how this geopolitically embroiled and charged game of high intrigue actually played out. The Caspian region became literally the global chess board for United States foreign policy. The author takes the reader on a journey where power and influence are the key criteria for decisions, and things are seldom what they seem on the surface. After reading this book, you will better understand why.For any serious student of the oil industry or geopolitics in general, this book is a MUST READ. It is truly on par with The Prize! The Oil and the Glory definitely makes the point that fact is stranger, and better, than fiction!

I found the book very interesting especially since I work in the Caspian and know a few of the players. Kept my attention the whole time.

It is usually difficult task to describe certain era in a way that is complete, factually accurate and properly put into big picture context, yet remains easy to read. It is equally difficult to choose proper places to insert illustrative small stories and examples to explain situation and characters, yet not to diverge too much from the main story line. Steve Levine finds proper balance in all those respects. That is why the book is fantastic read.The book also greatly illustrates how big deals are being done in a region with abundance of strategically important commodity, yet governed by unscrupulous rulers. For all the criticism of the big oil firms, in this book they end up as basically good guys.

If you enjoy history and geopolitics you will like this book. Levine spends a good third of the book on the history of oil in the region. So if you've read the Prize by Yergin, you would have probably come across the same stuff. Where this book get's interesting is in the 1980s and the post-Soviet union era. Liked the book so much that I finished it in three days.

A terrific read which leaves the reader scratching his head at some points wondering how any of these deals ever got done in the Caspian region. Particularly interesting is the nexus of oil and geopolitical interests which shape many of the book's main events. Well worth a read.

I work in Tengiz, Kazakhstan so naturally I found the history of this area very interesting.

Very interesting book, tells the story of the insiders, and the the politics.

If, like me, you work in the oil industry, and have also worked in the Caspian region, this book is 'A MUST'.Extremely enlightening on the early boom times, and also the modern day skullduggery that we all know exists within the industry.

If you don't work in the Caspian Sea oil Projects then you may not find this book too interesting.

Excellent read for those interested in the politics and the negotiations over oil in Central Asia. A fun read.