About this title: Upton Sinclair fashioned this novel out of the oil scandals of the Harding administration, providing a picture of the oil industry in Southern California. It is the story of an independent oil developer and his son, whose sympathy with the oilfield workers causes a running debate with his father.
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Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 2007-12-18
ISBN-13:9780143112266ISBN:0143112260
Description: Fair. The cover is creased. The book is slanted and the pages are rippled. Every heavytail order includes with a sweet! We carefully hand clean and reinspect each and every item we ship. Our quality control process ensures items to be in the condition described or better. Heavytail is determined to earn your repeat business through old fashioned customer service. We love international orders. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780143112266ISBN:0143112260
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. seems to be a new copy with very light shelf wear, especially at edges. no marks. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 548 p. Audience: General/trade. reprint of the novel done to coincide with the release of the 2008 film "there will be blood" which was loosely based on it. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Modern Classics
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780141031705ISBN:0141031700
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Date Published: 2007-12-18
ISBN-13:9780143112266ISBN:0143112260
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780143112266. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780143112266ISBN:0143112260
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: PENGUIN BOOKS LTD Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780141031705ISBN:0141031700
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 560 pages. Provides a picture of the development of the oil industry in southern california. this novel features senators, small investors, oil magnates, a hollywood film star, and a crusading evangelist. (Paperback) read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Albert & Charles Boni
Date Published: 1927
Description: Good. Loose Binding, good reading copy No dust jacket. Some Loose Pages, and shelf wear Very Clean Copy-Over 500, 000 Internet Orders Filled. read more
Binding: Spoken Word Compact Disc
Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc
Date Published: 2008-08-01
ISBN-13:9781433244452ISBN:1433244454
Description: NEW. Spoken Word Compact Disc. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781433244452. read more
Binding: Audio CD
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks, Inc
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781433244452ISBN:1433244454
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
"If you liked Grapes of Wrath, I think you'll like this one. Similar to Steinbeck's epic of the American West during the Great Depression, Sinclair's masterpiece is seasoned with political overtones, satire, heart-breaking realism, and a cold anger at the capitalist system that chokes the incomes of the hard workers of our young nation. However, what is most interesting about this work is how it differs from the film adaptation, "There Will Be Blood". At times Paul Thomas Andersen has departed completely from the text, and at times he will quote entire pages of dialogue or monologue. Really, I think that both artists are using the same setting to illustrate two very unrelated opinions. Fans of the movie will find that the book is wider in scope, encompassing all of California and a vast host of characters that range from oil tycoons to movie starlets, communist activists to evangelist con-men. Some characters you will certainly recognize, but a number have been altered for the sake of the film. Additionally, the adaptation lacks any real political message. But, Oil! is thick with it. And, the narcissism that runs thick in TWBB's veins is absent here in exchange for polite dialogue and witty asides. Anyone that appreciates the intercalary chapters that have been borrowed from Moby Dick and again appear in GoW, will find them here, spouting facts about the business of oil, automobiles, and their manufacture. These help to envelope the reader in the world apart that both the oil industry and California are. Of course, I do not mean by all of this to damn There Will Be Blood. I find it a beautiful work of art. However, if you pick up this book expecting to find an exact replica, you will be disappointed, but also might be pleasantly surprised.
I will say this in closing: Oil! is far more accessible than the Jungle. And it carries a message that is still very pertinent today."
"2009-06-08 -- Started today. I freely admit that I am mostly reading this because of how taken I am with the film _There Will Be Blood_. Since Sinclair is already on my booklist for _The Jungle_, I figured I could justify it.
2009-07-06 -- Finished this over the weekend. First of all, this book has absolutely nothing to do with the aforementioned movie. A few story elements in the beginning are the same and that's about it. That having been said, I am glad I read it. This is a great read for a labor advocate's perspective of the class struggle in America around World War I and was my first experience with literature that backs socialism. I find it interesting that this was written well before Eisenhower's 'military-industrial complex' speech, but that Sinclair was well aware of the concept.
I enjoyed _Oil!_, but I rate it no higher than three stars because I didn't find the writing, particularly the dialogue, to be particularly brilliant. However, the book captures the human experience, particularly the relationships of a boy who becomes a man, awfully well for a political novel. It's a good read for someone interested in the interactions of human beings, even if the characters are sometimes unbelievable.
I'd recommend this book to anyone that wants to have their righteous anger toward our government stoked or anyone interested in the degree to which history repeats itself with respect to wealth, power, and war. I feel like I need to read some Ayn Rand to get a capitalist counterpoint, but not so soon that my head explodes."
"This is the second Sinclair book I have read. By the end of it, I was praying for an earthquake to sever California from the continent and drown all the characters in the sea. While The Jungle is a very black-and-white view of the plight of the working man, Oil! makes an attempt to blur the lines a bit. Unfortunately for Sinclair, the bulk of his novel does not withstand history so it is hard for the modern reader to ever feel sympathy for the Socialists or the Communists.
However, there are many points where Sinclair seems truly prescient. His description of the media, specifically the radio which he tells us has the power to enslave an entire civilization are dead-on. The light he sheds on the partnership between Big Business and politics of the early 20th century shows the modern reader that there is really nothing new about the current state of affairs in Washington.
One final note... The edition I purchased (which was the only one available) is pictured above and shows a still from the movie There Will Be Blood. Anyone expecting to pick up Oil! and read the story told in the movie will be sorely disappointed."
"'There Will Be Blood' is LOOSELY based on this book; that is to say there is oil drilling in each and there's a creepy charlatan for a religious leader, but that's about it. The first half of this book was excellent and gives a real explanation of how oil drilling worked at the turn of the century. The second half of the book is really about socialism, as the main character (the son of the 'oil man') struggles between the greedy wealth of his father and his belief in worker's rights. I found the second half of the book to be tiresome and to put it bluntly, boring and repetitive. I'd have to say I MADE myself finish it. The book could be considered timeless in the fact that it parallels modern society of the corrupt rich who control our political machine to cater to their needs, but it would have been much better served had they cut 100 pages out of the 2nd half of the book."
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