The untold story of how Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, and Texaco teamed up with the CIA and Department of State to thwart the plans of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who almost managed to reshape the Middle East.
In 1954 Aristotle Onassis (long before he married Jacqueline Kennedy) made a bold business gamble: he tried to corner the crude oil shipping market by signing a deal with the King of Saudi Arabia. If it had worked, it would have reshaped the history of the Middle East. As it was, the proposed deal terrified British and U.S. oil companies and the Dulles brothers, who saw it as the first move in the nationalization of Saudi oil. Complicating things was the burgeoning Arab nationalist movement led by Egypt's newly elected president, Gamal Nasser. And of course there were the Soviets, now without Stalin, eager to build influence in the region.
This little-known story about the collision of nationalism, money, celebrity, and oil sheds new light on the tangled history of the Middle East. Drawing on the author's immense knowledge of the Middle East and original research incorporating unexplored declassified documents, the book is an eye-opener for students of U.S. foreign policy, anyone interested in the global oil business, and scholars and historians of the role of the U.S. in the Arab world.

- 288 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- Notes on Language and Usage
- Cast of Characters
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1. The Reign of Big Oil
- Chapter 2. Signs of Trouble
- Chapter 3. Intrigue on the Riviera
- Chapter 4. Onassis in the Dock
- Chapter 5. The Shot Heard ’Round the World of Oil
- Chapter 6. Oil and the Cold War
- Chapter 7. The CIA Is on the Case
- Chapter 8. A Two-Tier Strategy
- Chapter 9. The World vs. Onassis
- Chapter 10. Too Many Moving Parts
- Chapter 11. Onassis “in the Doghouse”
- Chapter 12. Power Struggle in the Kingdom
- Chapter 13. Don’t Embarrass the King
- Chapter 14. The Revenge of Spyridon Catapodis
- Chapter 15. The Power of the Press
- Chapter 16. Impasse
- Chapter 17. Dark Days for Onassis
- Chapter 18. New Issues Emerge
- Chapter 19. New Crisis, Old Cases
- Chapter 20. The Suez Crisis
- Chapter 21. The End of the Affair
- Notes
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- About the Author
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Yes, you can access Crude Oil, Crude Money by Thomas W. Lippman in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politics & International Relations & Business Biographies. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.