I’ve had a bit of news overload the past month or so, with hearings, debates, and lots of anxiety about the future of our country. So while I happily received an advance copy of Rachel Maddow’s latest book Blowout (from Crown Publishing and NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review, I admit I had a bit of a challenge getting into it. I knew it would be awesome, I mean…it’s Rachel Freaking Maddow! (yes, I am a fan). But I just felt overwhelmed and ready to dive into some escapist fiction rather than something heavy.

But OMG, this is a great book. It’s full of Rachel’s trademark black humor, and provides a history of the oil and gas industry that effectively lays the groundwork for an analysis of how we got here, what is really going on both in the U.S. and throughout the world, and ideas for what we might do to address the challenge.

In the U.S., she starts with Rockefeller and the earliest days of the oil boom in the U.S. and takes us up to the beginning of the Trump administration. She shows us how the industry has affected democracies in both developed and developing countries, wreaked havoc on our oceans and rivers, and propped up dictators and thieves. But what I love about this book is that it didn’t just outrage me. She reminded me to being outraged would be “like being indignant when a lion takes down and eats a gazelle. You can’t really blame the lion. It’s in her nature.”

It’s incredibly well written and although the Rachel’s personal opinions are clear, overall it is totally factual and unbiased in its recommendations.  Five stars.