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Fractured Land: The Price of Inheriting Oil
What does an environmentalist do when she realizes she will inherit mineral rights and royalties on fracked oil wells in North Dakota? How does she decide between financial security and living as a committed conservationist who wants to leave her grandchildren a healthy world?
After her father's death, Lisa Westberg Peters investigates the stories behind the leases her mother now holds. She learns how her grandfather's land purchases near Williston in the 1940s reflect four generations of creative risk-taking in her father's Swedish immigrant family. She explores the ties between frac sand mining on the St. Croix River and the halting, difficult development of North Dakota's oil, locked in shale two miles down and pursued since the 1920s. And then there are the surprising and immediate connections between the development of North Dakota oil and Peters's own life in Minneapolis.
Catapulted into a world of complicated legal jargon, spectacular feats of engineering, and rich history, Peters travels to the oil patch and sees both the wealth and the challenges brought by the boom. She interviews workers and farmers, geologists and lawyers, those who welcome and those who reject the development, and she finds herself able to see shades of gray in what had previously seemed black and white.
After her father's death, Lisa Westberg Peters investigates the stories behind the leases her mother now holds. She learns how her grandfather's land purchases near Williston in the 1940s reflect four generations of creative risk-taking in her father's Swedish immigrant family. She explores the ties between frac sand mining on the St. Croix River and the halting, difficult development of North Dakota's oil, locked in shale two miles down and pursued since the 1920s. And then there are the surprising and immediate connections between the development of North Dakota oil and Peters's own life in Minneapolis.
Catapulted into a world of complicated legal jargon, spectacular feats of engineering, and rich history, Peters travels to the oil patch and sees both the wealth and the challenges brought by the boom. She interviews workers and farmers, geologists and lawyers, those who welcome and those who reject the development, and she finds herself able to see shades of gray in what had previously seemed black and white.
- GenresNonfictionMemoir
240 pages, Paperback
First published September 18, 2014
About the author
Lisa Westberg Peters
28 books27 followersLisa Westberg Peters is a children's author and poet from St. Paul, Minnesota. Her books often have a scientific focus.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 27, 2015
I read this book for book club. I went in to this book excited to read a nonfiction book about the oil and fracking industry, but once I started reading, I was very underwhelmed and disappointed. This book is really about the author researching her "people" and writing a book to journal and share her family history. The family history does include the purchase of land and mineral rights which gets passed down through the family over deaths and time. But it felt like the author put meaning where meaning or sentimentality didn't exist.
I just feel like the book tries to do too much and I would have much preferred a detailed research of oil and fracking in North Dakota.
I just feel like the book tries to do too much and I would have much preferred a detailed research of oil and fracking in North Dakota.
January 30, 2015
My friend Bonnie gave me this book for Christmas as an addition to my "Minnesota shelf" (the author lives in Minnesota, although the book is mostly about North Dakota). This was a fascinating and well-written book. The author's family has held oil and mineral rights in North Dakota since the 1950s, and that spurred her to explore the facts and stories behind the current oil boom in Western North Dakota. This may sound like a very dry subject, but the book is intriguing, and I found it very hard to put down. Definitely recommended!
February 18, 2017
Those who are looking to read about the North Dakota oil boom, or the oil industry in general, be warned: this book is more Midwestern family memoir than a treatise on oil and fracking. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
The story begins with the death of Peters' father, a man who was from and loved North Dakota. After his death, Peters begins to trace her family's history, touring the Midwest to see the spots that have shaped her family. She starts with her Scandinavian immigrant ancestors in 19th century Iowa and follows them through Minnesota and into North Dakota.
Peters openly declares herself an environmentalist, and a former hippie of the '70s, so her future inheritance of mineral rights is an understandably complicated issue. However, if Peters has opinions, she keeps them to herself. Instead, the book comes across as merely a personal investigation, mostly meant to satisfy her own curiosity.
Peters is an interesting researcher and the book's major themes of being on the road, heading west, and exploring new terrain really tie together the immigrant history and the investigative reporting that Peters writes so well. As a reader, the book felt more like a road trip, making stops along the way just to explore a family's old land, or grab a slice of pie with strangers, or, you know, maybe investigate a frac sand mine or oil well.
All in all, I was surprised by this book. I think it would make a great road trip read if you ever find yourself on a Midwestern highway for a few hours.
The story begins with the death of Peters' father, a man who was from and loved North Dakota. After his death, Peters begins to trace her family's history, touring the Midwest to see the spots that have shaped her family. She starts with her Scandinavian immigrant ancestors in 19th century Iowa and follows them through Minnesota and into North Dakota.
Peters openly declares herself an environmentalist, and a former hippie of the '70s, so her future inheritance of mineral rights is an understandably complicated issue. However, if Peters has opinions, she keeps them to herself. Instead, the book comes across as merely a personal investigation, mostly meant to satisfy her own curiosity.
Peters is an interesting researcher and the book's major themes of being on the road, heading west, and exploring new terrain really tie together the immigrant history and the investigative reporting that Peters writes so well. As a reader, the book felt more like a road trip, making stops along the way just to explore a family's old land, or grab a slice of pie with strangers, or, you know, maybe investigate a frac sand mine or oil well.
All in all, I was surprised by this book. I think it would make a great road trip read if you ever find yourself on a Midwestern highway for a few hours.
November 1, 2016
Different kind of family history
Well-told personal experience story of a fourth generation beneficiary of oil wells in North Dakota, conflicting with her views as an environmentalist.
Well-told personal experience story of a fourth generation beneficiary of oil wells in North Dakota, conflicting with her views as an environmentalist.
July 13, 2017
Well-crafted family narrative. Minnesota connection made it very relatable.
September 10, 2015
Those who are looking to read about the North Dakota oil boom, or the oil industry in general, be warned: this book is more Midwestern family memoir than a treatise on oil and fracking. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
The story begins with the death of Peters' father, a man who was from and loved North Dakota. After his death, Peters begins to trace her family's history, touring the Midwest to see the spots that have shaped her family. She starts with her Scandinavian immigrant ancestors in 19th century Iowa and follows them through Minnesota and into North Dakota.
Peters openly declares herself an environmentalist, and a former hippie of the '70s, so her future inheritance of mineral rights is an understandably complicated issue. However, if Peters has opinions, she keeps them to herself. Instead, the book comes across as merely a personal investigation, mostly meant to satisfy her own curiosity.
Peters is an interesting researcher and the book's major themes of being on the road, heading west, and exploring new terrain really tie together the immigrant history and the investigative reporting that Peters writes so well. As a reader, the book felt more like a road trip, making stops along the way just to explore a family's old land, or grab a slice of pie with strangers, or, you know, maybe investigate a frac sand mine or oil well.
All in all, I was surprised by this book. I think it would make a great road trip read if you ever find yourself on a Midwestern highway for a few hours.
The story begins with the death of Peters' father, a man who was from and loved North Dakota. After his death, Peters begins to trace her family's history, touring the Midwest to see the spots that have shaped her family. She starts with her Scandinavian immigrant ancestors in 19th century Iowa and follows them through Minnesota and into North Dakota.
Peters openly declares herself an environmentalist, and a former hippie of the '70s, so her future inheritance of mineral rights is an understandably complicated issue. However, if Peters has opinions, she keeps them to herself. Instead, the book comes across as merely a personal investigation, mostly meant to satisfy her own curiosity.
Peters is an interesting researcher and the book's major themes of being on the road, heading west, and exploring new terrain really tie together the immigrant history and the investigative reporting that Peters writes so well. As a reader, the book felt more like a road trip, making stops along the way just to explore a family's old land, or grab a slice of pie with strangers, or, you know, maybe investigate a frac sand mine or oil well.
All in all, I was surprised by this book. I think it would make a great road trip read if you ever find yourself on a Midwestern highway for a few hours.
January 2, 2016
I bought this book because I was interested in fracking. I heard an interview with this author on Minnesota Public Radio and was interested in her family story as related to their own land and oil rights.
Peters might not be the best person to tell the story of fracking-- she's timid in her journalism as most of us would be!
She is trying to justify to herself the money she and her family are receiving from fracking, even as she exposes some of the dangers and the way the practice is affecting the land. That is good tension, and she certainly isn't justifying anything. For me the most valuable thing was to see how North Dakotans have historically seen the value of their extremely hardscrabble land in terms of "mineral rights." They've always hoped or known the oil was there, and waited generations for this payday. She also does a good job of introducing the names of the technology and processes related to fracking. It's a great addition to a body of literature on the subject.
Peters might not be the best person to tell the story of fracking-- she's timid in her journalism as most of us would be!
She is trying to justify to herself the money she and her family are receiving from fracking, even as she exposes some of the dangers and the way the practice is affecting the land. That is good tension, and she certainly isn't justifying anything. For me the most valuable thing was to see how North Dakotans have historically seen the value of their extremely hardscrabble land in terms of "mineral rights." They've always hoped or known the oil was there, and waited generations for this payday. She also does a good job of introducing the names of the technology and processes related to fracking. It's a great addition to a body of literature on the subject.
December 31, 2015
An okay book as a memoir. It really isn't a "page turner." There isn't any tension or drama to this book. The promotional material is misleading when it suggests "Fractured Land recounts an environmentalists' journey into the heart of the oil boom." This is wrong. A better description might suggest: Fractured Land is an exploration of family history, trying to understand the generational fascination with mineral rights in North Dakota.
This book will find a place on my bookshelf, but I will never re-read it.
This book will find a place on my bookshelf, but I will never re-read it.
September 3, 2015
What I most enjoyed about this book, which is the 2015 1 Book 1 Community Read for Fargo-West Fargo-Moorhead, was the information on fracking and the history of oil exploration/drilling in the Williston, ND area. A very relaxed read, I found it quick and enjoyable. West Fargo Public Library's Book Club also discussed this book at its August 2015 meeting. I would now like to read more books, if they exist, on the history of the Williston Basin.
April 27, 2015
It was an ok memoir about growing up as an environmentalist and inheriting land with mineral rights in ND. The author is never really is able to articulate what that means, and cuts the oil industry too much slack. It is more a reminiscence of her father. I am thankful for this book as I had never read Giants in the Earth and did based on a reference to it from this book.
March 12, 2015
I had hoped for a decisive ending to this book, instead it sorts of fizzles out with no backbone or decisiveness on the author's part. Glad the book was a gift or I might have been mad at spending the money on it.
June 3, 2015
A very provocative examination of what is currently taking place in North Dakota's oil drilling industry--something that should interest us all, whether we directly "benefit" from it (like the author's family) or not. Money is driving most of the decisions, not the Environment.
December 1, 2014
Interesting to read about the author inheriting mineral rights from her father's farm near Williston, ND. The story follows her discoveries.
February 2, 2015
Enjoyed it, but perhaps because my family has a lot in common with the author and I am familiar with the area.
March 4, 2015
Interesting look at the oil industry in ND... fracking and mineral rights are just some of the topics covered in this book.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews