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Private Empire Exxonmobil and American Power

Private Empire: Exxonmobil and American Power

By Steve Coll

An "extraordinary" and "monumental" expos of Big Oil from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Coll ("The Washington Post"). In this, the first hard-hitting examination of ExxonMobilNthe largest and most powerful private corporation in the United States--he reveals the true extent of its power.

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Book Information

Publisher: Penguin Books
Publish Date: 05/28/2013
Pages: 685
ISBN-13: 9780143123545
ISBN-10: 0143123548
Language: English

What We're Saying

December 18, 2012

In anticipation of announcing the winner of the 2012 800-CEO-READ Business Book of the Year tomorrow, here's a recap of the category winners. Click on the links below to read more about these top books of 2012. Which book is *your* pick for the top book of the year? READ FULL DESCRIPTION

December 17, 2012

General Business is somewhat of a catch-all category for awards entries, one that often contains our founder Jack Covert's favorite kind of business books, Biographies & Narratives (a category we nixed a few years back much to his chagrin. ) This year's winner, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power, published by the good people over at The Penguin Press, is a corporate exposé. But, as it was authored by two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, president of the New America Foundation, current staff writer for The New Yorker, and managing editor at The Washington Post from 1998 and 2004 Steve Coll, you can be assured of its great quality. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

November 28, 2012

Amazon's editors have come up with another fine list of books this year. Their choices in the Business and Investing category are: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg, Random House Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Random House The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business by Patrick Lencioni, Jossey-Bass Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power by Steve Coll, The Penguin Press Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City by Brad Feld, John Wiley & Sons How Much is Enough? : Money and the Good Life by Robert Skidelsky and Edward Skidelsky Reverse Innovation: Create Far From Home, Win Everywhere by Vijay Govindarajan, Chris Trimble and Indra K. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

November 26, 2012

The season of lists is upon us. The first ornament up on the tree was Steve Coll's Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power, published by The Penguin Press, which took home the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year earlier this month. And there was another large nonfiction title related to economics—Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and James A. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

November 05, 2012

Steve Coll, a two time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, president of the New America Foundation, current staff writer for The New Yorker, and managing editor at The Washington Post from 1998 and 2004, has one more accolade to add to his long list of achievements. On Thursday night, after what Andrew Hill at The Financial Times described as "the closest contest in the history of the prize," he took home the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award for his excellent study of ExxonMobil, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power. The chair of the judging panel, Financial Times editor Lionel Barber, said of Mr. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

September 14, 2012

The shortlist for the 2012 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award is in, and it is really good. Biographies and economics dominate what FT editor Lionel Barber says is “the strongest list” since the prize launched in 2005. Even though one of my favorite books of the year, Paper Promises: Money, Debt and the New World Order by Philip Coggan didn't make the cut, I think I agree with Mr. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

August 10, 2012

Andrew Hill's article yesterday in The Financial Times announcing the longlist for the 2012 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award was entitled A reading list to reflect loss of faith in capitalism. That headline is more than a little hyperbolic. The statement in the article itself that the list "includes an array of titles charting the strengths and weaknesses of the American corporate, economic and financial system" is a bit more accurate, especially if you replace the word "American" with "global. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

June 26, 2012

Amazon has been putting out a mid-year list of the best books for the past few years now, and released this (mid) year's list yesterday. The books in the Business & Leadership category are: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg, Random House The Tools: Transform Your Problems into Courage, Confidence, and Creativity by Phil Stutz & Barry Michels, Spiegel & Grau How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

January 23, 2013

When I got in my car, the temperature gauge on the dashboard read negative four degrees. It was sunny out, but it was the kind of sunlight that seems reluctant—like a lone light in a walk-in freezer—struggling through the cold air to get to you. So when I backed out of the driveway yesterday morning, I thought to myself, "there is no way we get a good crowd this morning, on the coldest day of winter. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

May 21, 2014

There has been a shake up around one of the major business book awards given every year, with McKinsey & Company taking the place of Goldman Sachs as the partner of the Financial Times for the tenth year of their prestigious award. Submissions have been open since last month, and they officially announced the launch of the 2014 Business Book of the Year Award yesterday. Also a first this year, they have announced an additional award—the Bracken Bower Prize—which "will be given to a promising young writer with the best proposal for a book about an emerging business theme. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

Full Description

"ExxonMobil has met its match in Coll, an elegant writer and dogged reporter . . . extraordinary . . . monumental." --The Washington Post "Fascinating . . . Private Empire is a book meticulously prepared as if for trial . . . a compelling and elucidatory work." --Bloomberg From the award-winning and bestselling author of Ghost Wars and Directorate S, an extraordinary expos? of Big Oil. Includes a profile of current Secretary of State and former chairman and chief executive of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson

In this, the first hard-hitting examination of ExxonMobil--the largest and most powerful private corporation in the United States--Steve Coll reveals the true extent of its power. Private Empire pulls back the curtain, tracking the corporation's recent history and its central role on the world stage, beginning with the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 and leading to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The action spans the globe--featuring kidnapping cases, civil wars, and high-stakes struggles at the Kremlin--and the narrative is driven by larger-than-life characters, including corporate legend Lee "Iron Ass" Raymond, ExxonMobil's chief executive until 2005, and current chairman and chief executive Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump's nomination for Secretary of State. A penetrating, news-breaking study, Private Empire is a defining portrait of Big Oil in American politics and foreign policy.

About the Author

Steve Coll is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ghost Wars and the dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, and from 2007 to 2013 was president of the New America Foundation, a public policy institute in Washington, D.

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