1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910790124703321

Autore

Frehner Brian

Titolo

Finding oil [[electronic resource] ] : the nature of petroleum geology, 1859-1920 / / Brian Frehner

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Lincoln, : University of Nebraska Press, c2011

ISBN

1-280-49828-5

9786613593511

0-8032-3837-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (249 p.)

Disciplina

333.8/232097309034

Soggetti

Petroleum industry and trade - United States - History - 19th century

Petroleum industry and trade - United States - History - 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Vernacular authority in the oil field -- Collaborative authority : nineteenth-century foundations of petroleum geology -- Contested knowledge -- Shared authority : practical oil men and professional geologists -- Institutional authority : field work, universities, and surveys -- Appropriated knowledge -- Geology organized : Hhenry I. Doherty's technological system.

Sommario/riassunto

Oil has made fortunes, caused wars, and shaped nations. Accordingly, no one questions the idea that the quest for oil is a quest for power. The question we should ask, Finding Oil suggests, is what kind of power prospectors have wanted. This book revises oil's early history by exploring the incredibly varied stories of the men who pitted themselves against nature to unleash the power of oil.Brian Frehner shows how, despite the towering presence of a figure like John D. Rockefeller as a quintessential "oil man," prospectors were a diverse lot who saw themselves, their