Winner of the FT/GOLDMAN SACHS BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2012
In Private Empire, Steve Coll investigates the notoriously secretive ExxonMobil Corporation, revealing the true extent of its power. In many of the countries where it operates, ExxonMobil has a greater sway than that of the US embassy. Yet despite its outsized influence, it is to outsiders a black box.
Private Empire begins with the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 and closes with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The narrative spans the globe as ExxonMobil carries out its activities against a backdrop of blackmail threats, kidnapping and civil wars. In the US, Coll goes inside ExxonMobil's ruthless Washington lobbying offices and its corporate headquarters. Coll draws on more than 400 interviews; field reporting from the halls of Congress to the oil-laden swamps of the Niger Delta; previously classified documents; court records; and many other sources. Private Empire is a chilling, definitive portrait of ExxonMobil.
