The 1973 'Oil Shock' is considered a turning point in the history of the twentieth century. At the time it seemed to mark a definitive shift from the era of low priced oil to the era of expensive oil. For most Western industrialized countries, it became the symbolic marker of the end of an era. For many oil producers, it translated into an unprecedented control over their energy resources, and completed the process of decolonization, leading to a profound redefinition of international relations.This book provides an analysis of the crisis and its global political and economic impact. It features contributions from a range of perspectives and approaches, including political, economic, environmental, international and social history. The authors examine the origins of what was defined as an 'oil revolution' by the oil-producing countries, as well as the far-reaching effects of the 'shock' on the Cold War and decolonization, on international energy markets and the global economy. In doing so, they help place the event in its historical context as a key moment in the transformation of the international economy and of North-South relations.

-- Introduction -- Part 1 Origins -- 1 The Shocking History of Oil-- 2 'First Class Brouhaha': Henry Kissinger and Oil Power in the 1970s-- 3 Iraq and the Oil Cold War: A Superpower Struggle and the End of the Iraq Petroleum Company, 1958-72 -- 4 Eight Squeezed Sisters: The Oil Majors and the Coming of the 1973 Oil Crisis-- Part 2 Consequences -- 5 Shifting Sands: The 1973 Oil Shock and the Expansion of Non-OPEC Supply-- 6 The OECD Oil Committee and the International Search for Reinforced Energy-Consumer Cooperation, 1972-3 -- 7 Learning to 'Recycle': Petrodollars and the West, 1973-5 -- 8 Energy Hinge? Oil Shock and Greening American Consumer Culture Since the 1970s -- 9 Energy and Soviet Economic Integration: Foundations of a Future Petrostate -- 10 Nuclear Energy and the Rise of Environmentalism in the United States -- Further Reading -- Index