Abby Shin

This will change your perspective on how the world works in 134 pages.

On Oil is a short, comprehensive investigation into the history and future of the oil industry and its implications for economics, government, geopolitics, religion, and (of course) the environment.

By the end of this short book, you will understand how and why the oil and gas industry has been able to shape the future of our planet. You will learn how deep its reach into politics goes (spoiler alert, it controls basically everything), how it became intertwined with evangelicalism and extremist far-right movements, how it remains the target of extremely inefficient subsidies and funding, how it has fueled misinformation and propaganda against climate science, and just how destructive it is for the health of us and our environment. It discusses international history and affairs, but zeros in on North America – especially Canada.

This book gets straight to the point and has a strong narrative perspective, which I find important for non-fictions with heavier content. Once I started reading it, I could not put it down. Even if it had the most boring writing (which it doesn’t), the facts are captivating all by themselves. As a proud Canadian, learning about the extent of federal and provincial/territorial regulatory capture by the oil industry was infuriating but so fascinating.

If you have ever doubted the “demonization” of the oil and gas industry, those doubts will vanish once you read this book. Yes, fossil fuels are essential and have resulted in immeasurable amounts of progress for humankind – and On Oil explains this as well. However, it is just plain economics and science that the industry was never sustainable for our planet or our societies. As Gillmor outlines, the financial and environmental toll of maintaining (not to mention growing) the industry is just astronomical. This is not a politically-motivated statement. It. Is. Fact.

Don Gillmor

Don Gillmor is an award-winning journalist, novelist, and children’s book author. He spent his university summers working as roughneck on oil rigs in Alberta during the oil boom of the 1970s. Having seen the lifetime of Canada’s oil industry first-hand, he brings a unique, crucial perspective to On Oil.