The Oil Wars Myth

Petroleum and the Causes of International Conflict

By: Emily Meierding

Narrated by: Sheri Saginor

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's Summary

Do countries fight wars for oil? Given the resource's exceptional military and economic importance, most people assume that states will do anything to obtain it. Challenging this conventional wisdom, The Oil Wars Myth reveals that countries do not launch major conflicts to acquire petroleum resources. Emily Meierding argues that the costs of foreign invasion, territorial occupation, international retaliation, and damage to oil company relations deter even the most powerful countries from initiating "classic oil wars". Examining a century of interstate violence, she demonstrates that, at most, countries have engaged in mild sparring to advance their petroleum ambitions.

The Oil Wars Myth elaborates on these findings by reassessing the presumed oil motives for many of the 20th century's most prominent international conflicts: World War II, the two American Gulf wars, the Iran-Iraq War, the Falklands Malvinas War, and the Chaco War. These case studies show that countries have consistently refrained from fighting for oil. Meierding also explains why oil war assumptions are so common, despite the lack of supporting evidence. Since classic oil wars exist at the intersection of need and greed - two popular explanations for resource grabs - they are unusually easy to believe in.

The book is published by Cornell University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

"This book is an exciting new contribution to the study of resources and war." (Benjamin Smith, author of Hard Times in the Land of Plenty)

©2020 Cornell University (P)2021 Redwood Audiobooks

The Oil Wars Myth Elucidated

This was a unique and thought-provoking take on petroleum's role in various 20th-century conflicts. The book was written by a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in California. But the book doesn't feel overly academic. Even as a layperson I found it easy to understand. The audio quality was excellent. There were a ton of names and locations in foreign languages (especially German, French, and Arabic) that the narrator had to pronounce, and as far as I could tell she nailed them all. If you're interested in books about foreign policy, national security, and the global thirst for oil, this might be a great addition to your audio library.