
Blowout
Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth
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Narrated by:
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Rachel Maddow
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By:
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Rachel Maddow
About this listen
2021 GRAMMY® Winner for Best Spoken Word Album
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Big Oil and Gas Versus Democracy—Winner Take All
“A rollickingly well-written book, filled with fascinating, exciting, and alarming stories about the impact of the oil and gas industry on the world today.”—The New York Times Book Review
In 2010, the words “earthquake swarm” entered the lexicon in Oklahoma. That same year, a trove of Michael Jackson memorabilia—including his iconic crystal-encrusted white glove—was sold at auction for over $1 million to a guy who was, officially, just the lowly forestry minister of the tiny nation of Equatorial Guinea. And in 2014, Ukrainian revolutionaries raided the palace of their ousted president and found a zoo of peacocks, gilded toilets, and a floating restaurant modeled after a Spanish galleon. Unlikely as it might seem, there is a thread connecting these events, and Rachel Maddow follows it to its crooked source: the unimaginably lucrative and equally corrupting oil and gas industry.
With her trademark black humor, Maddow takes us on a switchback journey around the globe, revealing the greed and incompetence of Big Oil and Gas along the way, and drawing a surprising conclusion about why the Russian government hacked the 2016 U.S. election. She deftly shows how Russia’s rich reserves of crude have, paradoxically, stunted its growth, forcing Putin to maintain his power by spreading Russia’s rot into its rivals, its neighbors, the West’s most important alliances, and the United States. Chevron, BP, and a host of other industry players get their star turn, most notably ExxonMobil and the deceptively well-behaved Rex Tillerson. The oil and gas industry has weakened democracies in developed and developing countries, fouled oceans and rivers, and propped up authoritarian thieves and killers. But being outraged at it is, according to Maddow, “like being indignant when a lion takes down and eats a gazelle. You can’t really blame the lion. It’s in her nature.”
Blowout is a call to contain the lion: to stop subsidizing the wealthiest businesses on earth, to fight for transparency, and to check the influence of the world’s most destructive industry and its enablers. The stakes have never been higher. As Maddow writes, “Democracy either wins this one or disappears.”
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“At its heart, this book is a tale of two countries, the United States and Russia, and how, as Maddow sees it—individually and together—they have been warped by a rapacious fossil fuel industry. . . . Fulminating comes easy to Rachel Maddow. What sets her apart from other serial fulminators is that she does it with facts—and sardonic wit.”—Washington Post
“[Maddow] may be a popular, progressive news-and-commentary anchor on MSNBC, but it's not to be forgotten that she holds a doctorate in politics from Oxford and seems to devour whole libraries of data before breakfast each day. . . . Expect a tweetstorm as Maddow’s indictment of a corrupt industry finds readers—and it deserves many.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Known for her intense inquiries into complex subjects, Maddow brings her laser-like intuitiveness and keen and wily perception to Big Oil, that stalwart of global economics, and the shadowy nexus of commerce and politics. Maddow likes murky, the murkier the better, and her examination of the intricacies of off-shore drilling, transnational pipelines, and hydraulic fracking is as deep as the coveted wells themselves. . . . Like trailblazing journalists before her, Maddow exposes both the slapdash and sinister practices underlying geopolitics and energy policies and revels in peeling back the layers of malfeasance to stoke righteous outrage.”—Booklist (starred review)
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Story
In the years leading up to the election of Donald Trump, Congressman Adam Schiff had already been sounding the alarm over the resurgence of autocracy around the world, and the threat this posed to the United States. But as he led the probe into Donald Trump’s abuses of presidential power, Schiff came to the terrible conclusion that the principal threat to American democracy now came from within. In Midnight in Washington, Schiff argues that the Trump presidency has so weakened our institutions and compromised the Republican Party that the peril will last for years.
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Not what I expected
- By Lynn on 10-18-21
By: Adam Schiff
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Unthinkable
- Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy
- By: Jamie Raskin
- Narrated by: Jamie Raskin
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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In this searing memoir, Congressman Jamie Raskin tells the story of the forty-five days at the start of 2021 that permanently changed his life—and his family’s—as he confronted the painful loss of his son to suicide, lived through the violent insurrection in our nation’s Capitol, and led the impeachment effort to hold President Trump accountable for inciting the political violence.
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Must reading/listening for every American who has despaired of losing our democracy.
- By Shirley Anderson on 01-06-22
By: Jamie Raskin
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Responding to the Right
- Brief Replies to 25 Conservative Arguments
- By: Nathan J. Robinson
- Narrated by: Nathan J. Robinson
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Current Affairs editor Nathan J. Robinson has developed a reputation as a meticulous slayer of irrational and bigoted arguments. He has tangled with the likes of Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, and Charles Murray, exposing their flimsy logic and distorted facts with forensic thoroughness and savage wit. In Responding to the Right, Robinson blasts right-wing nonsense with devastating intellectual weaponry, revealing how everyone from Ann Coulter to the National Review uses fear and lies to manipulate the public.
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Fair, brief as necessary, and persuasive
- By Nicholas M. Michalak on 02-25-23
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Tired of Winning
- Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party
- By: Jonathan Karl
- Narrated by: Jonathan Karl
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Packed with new reporting, Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party tracks Trump’s improbable journey from disgraced and defeated former president to the dominant force, yet again, in the Republican Party. From his exile in Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump has become more extreme, vengeful, and divorced from reality than he was on January 6, 2021. His meddling damaged the GOP’s electoral prospects and his legal troubles were mounting. Yet he re-emerged as the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and the president-elect.
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Compelling and Terrifying
- By Shaz on 11-15-23
By: Jonathan Karl
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Shameless
- Republicans’ Deliberate Dysfunction and the Battle to Preserve Democracy
- By: Brian Tyler Cohen
- Narrated by: Brian Tyler Cohen
- Length: 4 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In Shameless, Brian Tyler Cohen lays bare the long con of the modern Republican Party. While the radical right continues hiding behind gaslighting maneuvers, artificial slogans, and hollow catchphrases, Cohen’s unflinching narrative illuminates the realities and dangers of the ever-widening gulf between the vaunted Republican brand and their actual behavior.
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Great read and informative!
- By LizzyD629 on 08-29-24
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Trump Is F*cking Crazy
- (This Is Not a Joke)
- By: Keith Olbermann
- Narrated by: Keith Olbermann
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Since Donald Trump's presidential nomination, Keith Olbermann has emerged as one of the web's most popular anti-Trump screedists - each installment of his GQ web series The Resistance receives nearly four million views, and his fiercely progressive monologues have garnered a new generation of fans and followers. In Trump Is F*cking Crazy, Olbermann takes our commander in chief and his politics apart with journalistic acuity and his classic in-your-face humor.
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Spotlight of a fool, wiitty, timely and unabashed
- By Chad on 10-31-17
By: Keith Olbermann
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Oath and Honor
- A Memoir and a Warning
- By: Liz Cheney
- Narrated by: Liz Cheney
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump and many around him, including certain other elected Republican officials, intentionally breached their oath to the Constitution: they ignored the rulings of dozens of courts, plotted to overturn a lawful election, and provoked a violent attack on our Capitol.
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Most important book I've ever read.
- By James m Finamore jr on 12-07-23
By: Liz Cheney
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Pegasus
- How a Spy in Your Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy
- By: Laurent Richard, Sandrine Rigaud, Rachel Maddow
- Narrated by: Andrew Wehrlen, Rachel Maddow, Rachel Perry
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud's Pegasus: How a Spy in Our Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy is the story of the one of the most sophisticated and invasive surveillance weapons ever created, used by governments around the world.
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Incredible!
- By Silvershopper on 01-18-23
By: Laurent Richard, and others
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House of Trump, House of Putin
- The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia
- By: Craig Unger
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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It is a chilling story that begins in the 1970s, when Trump made his first splash in the booming, money-drenched world of New York real estate, and ends with Trump’s inauguration as president of the US. That moment was the culmination of Vladimir Putin’s long mission to undermine Western democracy, a mission that he and his hand-selected group of oligarchs and Mafia kingpins had ensnared Trump in, starting more than 20 years ago with the massive bailout of a string of Trump hotel and casino failures. This book confirms the most incredible American paranoias about Russian malevolence.
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Understanding Trump through his shady roots
- By Caty kindle 4 on 08-20-18
By: Craig Unger
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Rage
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Woodward, the number-one international bestselling author of Fear: Trump in the White House, has uncovered the precise moment the president was warned that the Covid-19 epidemic would be the biggest national security threat to his presidency. In dramatic detail, Woodward takes readers into the Oval Office as Trump’s head pops up when he is told in January 2020 that the pandemic could reach the scale of the 1918 Spanish Flu that killed 675,000 Americans.
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Illuminating
- By Bridgette on 09-17-20
By: Bob Woodward
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Blowback
- A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump
- By: Miles Taylor
- Narrated by: Miles Taylor
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Donald Trump will be president again, whether he is on the ballot or not. That is because Trumpism is overtaking the Republican Party and will mount a vigorous comeback, potentially in the hands of a savvier successor. This prophecy will come true, according to Miles Taylor, if we do not learn the lessons of the recent past. With the 2024 election approaching, the formerly “Anonymous” official is back with bombshell revelations and a sobering national forecast. Taylor predicts what could happen inside “Trump 2.0,” the White House of a more competent and more formidable copycat.
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We will only have ourselves to blame if we sink into autocracy
- By MS on 07-23-23
By: Miles Taylor
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Autocracy, Inc.
- The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
- By: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Anne Applebaum
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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We think we know what an autocratic state looks like: There is an all-powerful leader at the top. He controls the police. The police threaten the people with violence. There are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents. But in the 21st century, that bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are underpinned not by one dictator, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, surveillance technologies, and professional propagandists, all of which operate across multiple regimes, from China to Russia to Iran.
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A Triumphant Work -Puts It All Together With Laser Clarity
- By Sjhoffman on 09-19-24
By: Anne Applebaum
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War
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Woodward tells the revelatory, behind-the-scenes story of three wars—Ukraine, the Middle East and the struggle for the American Presidency. War provides an unvarnished examination of the vice president as she tries to embrace the Biden legacy and policies while beginning to chart a path of her own as a presidential candidate.
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Draws Connections
- By Kyle on 10-18-24
By: Bob Woodward
What listeners say about Blowout
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- Kindle Customer
- 10-12-19
chilling...
i lived sixty years of my life in Oklahoma. i have had family, friends and clients who have lived their entire lives in or on the fringes of the oil patch. i have witnessed and they have experienced the booms and busts of the oil patch. some of Madow's story i already knew, but i am shocked and stunned at how much was totally unknown to me. i have watched Madow enough to have great respect for her diligence, intellect and honesty, even when she occasionally comes close to going on a rant. i have learned that if i sit still and listen, i will almost always find her compelling and convincing. we are in really deep trouble here - way more than i had ever imagined
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140 people found this helpful
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- akshara
- 10-02-19
Rachael: the storyteller
Rachael Maddow is the best storyteller I know. Her wonder, enthusiasm, and integrity are incomparable. She can explain anything.
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27 people found this helpful
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- Norma J. Hughes
- 10-05-19
Excellent!
Well-researched, fascinating and timely expose of the fossil fuel industry and its geo-political impact past, present and future. Perfectly read by the author and delightfully spotlighting the dulcet charms of Pussy Riot (only 90 seconds, lol)—this is a feast for the ears as well as the mind. The narrative is so engaging, one forgets how challenging the subject matter is to the uninitiated. Despite some very discouraging conclusions, the author refuses to succumb to defeatism, instead turning to the hope of global resistance and activism.
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21 people found this helpful
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- Peggy Sue Richards
- 10-10-19
Rachel Maddow for President!
A tour de force review of the ills of the oil and gas stranglehold on nation states the world over! Corruption has corrupted absolutely! A deep depression has descended over our US of A - how can we continue this madness? Thank god for Rachel Maddow’s clear and compelling parsing of the current state of world affairs in this age of oil and gas dominance. Good luck to our Senators and Representatives who cannot say to their constituencies that they didn’t know! Word is out! We do not want to live in a gangster state or a gangster world - where money is the only language of negotiation. Where humanity’s needs and desires are shit on by thug rulers and undermined by corporate sponsored murders and economic destruction. So tell us Congress - what’s your next move? My vote hangs in the balance.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Patricia Fincatti Moreira
- 10-24-19
I'm just sad it's over!
If you watch her show at all, you'll find that having her read this book will be like an extra special treat of having more time with such a sane, reassuring voice guiding you through something exceedingly complex and timely. She pulled off in a grander scale the same thing she accomplishes every night: pulling seemingly disparate threads and weaving them together in a cogent, intelligent way until you see the full picture coming into focus. It's an incredibly informative book from several points of view - you learn a bit of geology, the history of the oil and gas industry, and a lot of geopolitics. I liked how she structured the book - the same themes, places, and people would pop up again and again, pushing her narrative forward through important dates and facts without being too much of one thing at once. The whole picture she painted here is pertinent, enlightening, and incredibly alarming. However, there are glimpses of hope. I'm just sad it's over.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Sams95
- 10-10-19
Pulls Info Dots into Clear Picture
This book is a must read if you believe or think that democracy isn’t all that important. And a must read for all of us that do believe in and/or think that living in a democracy (government by and for the the people) is the only way to go. I’ve read the Mueller report, consistently watch the news, listen to podcasts, and read every book/article on applicable history and current events. As usual, Rachel Maddow pulls all the data into coherent understandable categories that could lead to the fall of democracy but if we democracy believers get into action democracy can flourish.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Karen
- 10-05-19
Wow
Rachel Maddow has delivered a unique and thorough history for this country and for the world. She reveals the ugly underpinnings which are usually and deliberately kept hidden from average citizens. She does this in a similar way that she delivers her television news but without all of the fluff and filler I find completely unbearable to wade through in that format. I listened to her own audiobook narration with wide-eyed awe.
Rachel’s biting summary of Putin’s failures as a world leader compared tit for tat with the ways he could have lead Russia into a truly great world power cemented my own disdain while at the same time, made me actually worry for her safety in laying him bare for all the world to see. Rachel is brave in a way that few are in this country.
I heard Rachel express the wish she could be like Molly Ivins in the recent and fantastic documentary, Raise Hell: The Life & Times Of Molly Ivins, and I thought throughout the entire listen of this book that she IS like Molly Ivins. Rachel is profoundly intelligent and she shares her unique gifts of combining that intelligence with thorough research, sharp biting humor and historical context in a way that has made her a force itself in the world.
This book reads like a John le Carré meets Stephen King novel. Their novels you need read a few dozen times to get all the characters and details straight. At least I need to do that and I enjoy each read or listen more than the last. I have already listened to this audiobook twice and am about to press play on my third listen. I predict that I will listen several more times and will then look up the books Rachel references to deepen my own knowledge base of this amazing story of America, Russia, oil & gas, and the world.
Thank you Rachel Maddow! I still cannot wade through the shows fluff & filler format, but I will eagerly await everything you write and narrate. Keep on raising hell!
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3 people found this helpful
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- tess pechka
- 10-07-19
Slime and scum ruling our world...
I knew much of this, but it still shocked me. Here's to renewable energy, healing our planet------and making the greedy pay to clean it up. (And, uh, I really hope that Rachel has really good security.) She is the new Walter Cronkite.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Liera Camp
- 10-08-19
Thanks Rachel
This should be required information for our future political landscape. All the dirty oil/gas industry dots have been connected. Thanks Rachel.
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2 people found this helpful
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- E. Bishop-Becker
- 10-14-19
Wow.
Rachel is one of those who see the world as it is, skillfully and insightfully tells that story, and inspires us to make our story be on the caring and positive side of the scale. This book will help.
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2 people found this helpful