BuzzFlash Reviews

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS

Lost in much of the coverage of the Sudanese-Darfur conflict is the battle over oil, with the West and China squaring off.

But that is the story in much of Africa, where oil -- and diamonds -- are natural resources that Africa has -- and that nations and companies outside of the continent covet.

It is Africa's horrible misfortune that proxy wars are fueled by those same business interests (along with the involvement of weapons merchants who profit from all sides).

We have offered a solid Hollywood film on how "Blood Diamonds" have played a role in the ruinous conflicts in Africa. Now we are offering a well-written book that is a journey through how a natural resource that should improve the standard of living in Africa -- oil -- is, instead, proving ruinous to so many lives there.

"Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil" is a portrait of a "continent under siege."

From the Publisher:

"Although Africa has long been known to be rich in oil, extracting it hadn’t seemed worth the effort and risk until recently. But with the price of Middle Eastern crude oil skyrocketing and advancing technology making reserves easier to tap, the region has become the scene of a competition between major powers that recalls the nineteenth-century scramble for colonization there. Already the United States imports more of its oil from Africa than from Saudi Arabia, and China, too, looks to the continent for its energy security.

What does this giddy new oil boom mean—for America, for the world, for Africans themselves? To find out, John Ghazvinian traveled through twelve African countries—from Sudan to Congo to Angola—talking to warlords, industry executives, bandits, activists, priests, missionaries, oil-rig workers, scientists, and ordinary people whose lives have been transformed—not necessarily for the better—by the riches beneath their feet. The result is a high-octane narrative that reveals the challenges, obstacles, reasons for despair, and reasons for hope emerging from the world’s newest energy hot spot."

From Booklist:

"The possibility of Africa as a greater source of oil, and a way to reduce dependence on the Middle East, raises questions about the potential at the heart of this continent so associated with despair and human suffering. Historian Ghazvinian provides a historical overview of oil extraction from both Nigeria and Angola, the major oil producers in Africa to date. He explores the relationship between these two nations with the major oil companies, the unsettling ethnic conflicts and imbalances in economic development, and the countries with lesser but active oil production, including Gabon, Republic of Congo, and Cameroon. Ghazvinian explores the speculative offshore drilling in other nations and concerns about their lack of sophistication and undue dependence on Texas and British companies. Noting the lessons of the past, he raises concerns of African nations suffering the "curse of oil" with uneven development. He also explores China's readiness to play an aggressive role in Africa to assure access to these potential oil reserves, and the broader implications for competition with the West."

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS