Oil! Audiobook By Upton Sinclair cover art

Oil!

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Oil!

By: Upton Sinclair
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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As he did so masterfully in The Jungle, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Upton Sinclair interweaves social criticism with human tragedy to create an unforgettable portrait of Southern California's early oil industry.

Enraged by the oil scandals of the Harding administration in the 1920s, Sinclair tells a gripping tale of avarice, corruption, and class warfare, featuring a cavalcade of characters, including senators, oil magnates, Hollywood film starlets, and a crusading evangelist. Sinclair's glorious 1927 epic endures as one of our most powerful American novels of social injustice.

©1954 David Sinclair (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Historical Fiction Classics Fiction Inspiring

Critic reviews

"Sinclair's 1927 novel did for California's oil industry what The Jungle did for Chicago's meat-packing factories." ( Library Journal)
Historical Relevance • Engaging Characters • Insightful Social Commentary • Nuanced Depiction • Timeless Themes

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3/4 of the book is concerned about Socialism from the 1st-person perspective (a theme with Upton Sinclaire), and the rest is half about an impressionable oil-man's son who falls in and out of relationships while abandons his legacy and a fraudulent evangelist. Other than the brutal detail about Socialism/Communism, the book is full of information that you could already guess.

How to be a Communist, and fraudulent evangelism

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Very interesting but then it loses steam. It really started dragging on became boring. Disappointed.

Started very well…

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Story is good but per communist propaganda. Anti-American to the core, won't read again. Wouldn't recommend it for others.

communist propaganda

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Sinclair does a nice job reflecting the early days of the oil industry, the small drillers, the workers and society in the early 20th century. Particularly interesting for those interested in fossil fuels and labor unions.
The narrative reading is terrific.

Great read

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A fabulous listen from start to finish. Although the excellent film, "There Will Be Blood" was based on this book it only used a tiny portion of the plot which seems to have a special resonance with the current economic climate. I always liked reading Upton Sinclair but listening was even better. Possibly not a good read for anyone with far right politics though.

Absolutely Engrossing and topical

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