Here is that rare thing—the scholarly account that is also enjoyable to read.
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The Mexican oil boom of the 1970s brought great hope and prosperity with it. George Grayson shows the influence of oil and the oil sector both within Mexican society and in its relations with other nations. He traces the development of the oil industry from its beginnings in 1901 up until the 1980s, looking at topics that include the history of expropriation; the creation of the state-run company Petróleos Mexicanos; graft and corruption within the Oil Workers Union; Mexico's relations with OPEC; the political nuances of oil and gas agreements with the United States; and the prospects for the Mexican oil industry and domestic reforms generated from oil revenue.
Chock-full of fascinating and salient material. . . . It is well researched, intelligently organized, cogently analyzed, and very skillfully written. It is recommended reading for students of Mexico, petroleum economists, and political scientists interested in the interplay of economic and sociopolitical development.
George Grayson's book is a full analysis of the oil sector in Mexican domestic and foreign affairs, covering PEMEX, labor aspects, the OPEC relationship, the Ixtoc blowout and more.
A trenchant look at oil in Mexico and without doubt the most perceptive study of the question to date.
Ambitious in scope, yet thoroughly accessible to the lay reader, The Politics of Oil is a primer that provides an agenda to US-Mexico relations in the decade ahead. Grayson puts the prospect of Mexico's oil wealth into perspective and he provides a political context for understanding the complex interplay of Mexico's oil and its overpopulation.
It is a dramatic and complex story which is told in a vivid and well-written manner. . . . The Book shines with a lucid account of the history of Mexico's state petroleum monopoly, PEMEX.
George W. Grayson is the Class of 1938 Professor of Government at the College of William & Mary, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, and an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
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