Books

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

By Steve LeVine

And The Oil and the Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea (Random House) by former Wall Street Journal correspondent Steve LeVine is a canny and entertaining look at the dubious practices, intrigue, and political arm-twisting that can be a part of deals in developing nations, where more and more of the oil business takes place. The disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s unleashed a modern-day Klondike in the bleak Caspian region, with oil giants butting heads and distributing money to gain access to the huge oil fields. A host of outrageous, sometimes intimidating characters help make LeVine’s book engrossing.