This book tells the story of how money corrupts everything basically. And when we are talking money and oil (and, today, natural gas) we are talking mountains and mountains of money. Maddow tells the story of just how much money and just how corrupt it turns everything it touches.

For instance the tiny country of Equatorial Guinea hit it rich. Well, not the country unfortunately, but rather its iron fisted ruler and his family, who proceeded to have a global spending spree of billions of dollars, while the rest of the country got along with $100 per year and the infrastructure crumbled. Exxon Mobil was happy to pay out the money for the offshore drilling, because it was to just one person who had an absolute rule, way cleaner than worrying about a "democracy".

But even here she tells the story of Oklahoma and its hundreds, even thousands of earthquakes, caused by fracking for natural gas, while the companies made money hand over fist and the state went bankrupt.

In general, it is just a litany of failures, from Gulf Oil spills (and no, the Deepwater Horizon is not the worst one that has happened), to, of course, Russian oil and natural gas, which all lead to just plain corruption. A few pleas for some kind of regulation, but it all seems so hopeless in the face of so much money.

I am not sure we really needed Blowout. I don't think anyone with half a brain thinks that all this money isn't an awful influence on everything and it is just so darned depressing. It's also a bit scattershot, as she jumps from one ugly scene to another, back and forth, until you just want it to end. Not her fault of course, but I am not really sure she adds much to the conversation. If we can even have one these days, that is.

I am going to go back and read [b:The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power|169354|The Prize The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power|Daniel Yergin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403025725l/169354.SY75.jpg|163531], the Pulitzer Prize winning history of oil. While Maddow does cover it a bit (and gives a shout out to The Prize), I think it might be less painful to read a history of it. I read about 1/3 of it once upon a time and I guess the new ebook version has some kind of update.