It's the Crude, Dude: Greed, Gas, War, and the American Way

by Linda McQuaig

George W. Bush says he invaded Iraq to bring democracy to the Middle East. Some people believe that. But if you have nagging doubts, you'll be intrigued by the story unraveled in It's the Crude, Dude. With all the drama of a thriller, Canadian bestselling author Linda McQuaig probes the mystery of what really lay behind the U.S. invasion of Iraq. She points to Washington's desire to gain control of the most spectacular untapped oil bonanza on Earth--even as rapidly dwindling worldwide oil reserserves threaten to turn competition for crude into the major international battleground of the future. That battle has actually been raging for decades. Once tightly controlled by Big Oil, most of the world's oil reserves have been taken over by nationalistic regimes in the Middle East. Ever since those regimes imposed an oil embargo on the United States in the mid-1970s, Washington has been determined to regain control over oil--by force if necessary. With China's recent emergence as a voracious oil consumer, there soon won't be enough oil left to fuel two superpowers. Against this backdrop--and the equally urgent problem of global warming-- It's the Crude, Dude reminds us of the enormous consequences of our failure to curb our addiction to oil.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Economics

369 pages, Hardcover

First published September 13, 2005

About the author

Described as ‘Canada’s Michael Moore’ by the country’s National Post, Linda McQuaig is an award-winning investigative reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star. She is the author of seven Canadian bestsellers, which have earned her a reputation as a fierce critic of the establishment.

Reviews

[Badr]

A very entertaining read, and I appreciated the history of OPEC politics.

[Marc]

My hardcover edition has a different cover sleeve than this image. Mine is similar to the Canadian paperback edition cover image.

Since I read this book in 2013, long after the events proved the Bush/Cheny/Rumsfeld lie about WMD. I always felt it was really about the crude, but of course, that is easy to say now. I am quite sure that the history books will eventually show what a slimy trio they really were.

[Grant George Buffett]

I must say that I thought I knew it all when it came to first picking up this book, but the intricate details of Anglo-American/OPEC politics really was well done and verifies for me many of my feelings about Western hegemony, globally. Well written and snarkily argued! GGB

[Kate]

very interesting book, although it doesn't provide any ground breaking information... it's easy to read, written much like her newspaper articles.

[Illumi]

An excellent account of middle eastern affairs. If you want to read about middle east, oil and US, this is the place to start.

[Sean Chandler]

Pretty amazing insights into how 'big oil' tries to manipulate events to benefit their interests, often to the detriment of the people and the nations on whose land the oil was discovered.

I think it's even more relevant now, with the discovery of a substantial oil find in Guyana, a nation which has suffered from bad governance in the past despite an abundance of natural resources.