Embargo - by Philip Delves Broughton (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The definitive account of how the 1973-1974 oil embargo rewired the world forever--and the lessons to be learned today.

The king of Saudi Arabia had warned the Americans repeatedly: if you do not treat us with respect, we will cut off your oil. For years, nobody believed him. In October 1973, he made good on his threat.

The consequences were immediate. In America, fuel rationing and a 55 MPH emergency speed limit couldn't stop the lights of Times Square flickering out by Christmas. With the Watergate scandal closing in, President Richard Nixon, and his secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, scrambled to secure peace in the Middle East and restart the flow of oil. Senior ministers from around the world flew to St Moritz to interrupt the Shah of Iran's skiing holiday and beg for oil to keep their countries running.

Embargo is the gripping inside story of the 1973-1974 oil crisis and the small group of leaders who strode into chaos to build a new, imperfect order. It is the story of Faisal, the Saudi king, born to the desert chieftain who created modern Saudi Arabia, who became the richest man in the world; of Ahmed Zaki Yamani, his unflappable Harvard-educated oil minister who drove American oil executives to tears with his steely calm; of Henry Kissinger, who underestimated the Arabs' resolve; and of William Simon, the Wall Street bond trader drafted by Nixon as his energy czar.

Filled with frantic diplomacy and secret negotiations, war, murder and kidnapping, Embargo follows the race to avert economic catastrophe and restore the flow of oil. In the process, it uncovers a turning point in modern history: the moment the world discovered how vulnerable its prosperity was to turmoil in the Middle East. More than fifty years later, we are still grappling with the consequences.

Review Quotes

Jaw-dropping, deftly erudite, witty, shocking, outrageous . . . an extraordinary retelling of how energy changed--and continues to change--the deepest structures of the world, war, and nations." --RORY STEWART, author of Politics on the Edge.

"A masterpiece: Delves Broughton is the most evocative nonfiction writer of our time. Here is the hawk-eyed King Faisal, seated at dinner with a hooded falcon, mimicking the bird's piercing screech as he throws it meat from his table . . .and in Washington, Henry Kissinger, soothing and schmoozing Liza Minnelli an hour before Faisal turns off the oil. Sand, gold, and treachery--this book made me feel a century turn." --SEBASTIAN MALLABY, author of The Infinity Machine.

"The 1973 Arab oil embargo was a profound turning point in the modern age and it has at last found its worthy chronicler. Through prodigious research and a novelist's eye for the intriguing detail, Delves Broughton takes his reader into the conference rooms and desert tents where strategies were devised and deals cut to produce the greatest transfer of wealth in human history. Readers will gain a fascinating education . . . and have a rollicking good time in the process." --SCOTT ANDERSON, author of King of Kings.

"Gripping and insightful, Embargo is a must-read to understand not just the 1973 oil crisis, but every energy shock that has followed since - including the 2026 US-Iran war for the control of the Strait of Hormuz." --JAVIER BLAS, co-author of The World for Sale

"Embargo is the best book on oil politics I've read. It's totally absorbing." --JAMES BARR, author of A Line in the Sand

"Philip Delves Broughton has turned the birth of the modern petrostate into a thriller - specific, cinematic, and completely impossible to put down. Embargo is the book that explains how the world we live in was actually made." --BRADLEY HOPE, co-author of Billion Dollar Whale and Blood and Oil

About the Author

Philip Delves Broughton is the author of several books, including the international bestsellers Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School and The Art of the Sale: Learning from the Masters About the Business of Life. He was the New York correspondent for The Daily Telegraph (London) during the 9/11 attacks on New York, and then served as its Paris bureau chief, reporting from across Europe and Africa. He has been a regular contributor to Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg News. In addition to journalism, he was a Senior Adviser to the Executive Chairman of Banco Santander, and collaborated with Stephen A. Schwarzman, the founder and chief executive of Blackstone on his memoir, the global bestseller What it Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence. He holds a BA in classics from Oxford, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He grew up in the United Kingdom and lives in New York.