physics

The Oil Kings

The Oil Kings is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Oil Kings rather than just read about it. In short: The Oil Kings: How the U.S., Iran, and Saudi Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East is a 2011 book by Andrew Scott Cooper, published by Simon and Schuster. It documents the relationships between the United States, Iran, and Saudi Arabia in the mid-20th century energy industry.

Key takeaways

The Oil Kings belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Oil Kings to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Oil Kings from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Oil Kings: How the U.S., Iran, and Saudi Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East is a 2011 book by Andrew Scott Cooper, published by Simon and Schuster. It documents the relationships between the United States, Iran, and Saudi Arabia in the mid-20th century energy industry. The book discusses Henry Kissinger, the 1970s oil embargo, and the Iranian Revolution. Cooper had stated that the story on how the U.S. became dependent on Saudi Arabia and how U.S. reliance on oil began was "Less well known" compared to the general understanding of U.S. reliance on oil. Brian Black, a history and environmental studies teacher at Pennsylvania State University, stated in the Christian Science Monitor that the book is "a record that adds significant insight to one of the most important periods in the American relationship with petroleum."

Background Cooper used several sources that, until shortly before the book's publication, had been classified information.

Content The beginning shows how Richard Nixon met Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, at the funeral of former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower. Initially the U.S. and Iran enjoyed a close relationship, but during the 1970s oil embargo Iran insisted on keeping oil prices high, so the US switched to using Saudi Arabia as its primary ally. Iran's economy experienced significant problems after the Saudis modified production to decrease oil prices. According to Black, "Oil Kings" follows the model of the film "Syrianna" [sic] in portraying the back-channel politics that control the flow of oil and the global politics that emanate from that dynamic." The Oil Kings details Nixon and Pahlavi in particular. Black states that the book has relatively little documentation.

Reception Christian Emery of the London School of Economics stated that the book has "prescient and often compelling" analysis and "is well-written", concluding that it is "a serious and significant contribution to the existing scholarship" even though the author "slightly overstates his case". Emery argued that the analysis in the change of relationship between the US and the Middle Eastern oil producers in the 1970s is "quite narrow". Brandon Wolfe-Hunnicutt stated in a review for the International Journal of Middle East Studies that the book is "an intriguing narrative that should capture the attention of specialists and nonspecialists alike." Black states that the book "excels" due to the quality of its original research as well as "discipline" and "virtue of focus". Joan Oleck, a freelance writer in New York, wrote in an article for The National, a newspaper in Abu Dhabi, that she had a positive impression of the book. She stated that at times the author used more content than necessary, such as too many quotes. Publishers Weekly stated that the book is "both a vivid study in sycophancy and backstabbing and a shrewd critique of Kissingerian geo-strategy." Kirkus Reviews stated that the book was "A revelatory, impressive debut."

References Emery, Christian (2013). "The Oil Kings: How the US, Iran, and Saudi Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East". Iranian Studies. 46 (5: Special Issue: Bahram Beyzaie's Cinema and Theater): 834–837. doi:10.1080/00210862.2013.789747. S2CID 161547075. - Online publication: 20 May 2013 - DOI 10.1080/00210862.2013.789747 Wolfe-Hunnicutt, Brandon (February 2015). "WHO'S "RUNNING THE SHOW"? OIL AND EMPIRE IN THE MIDDLE EAST". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 47 (1): 169–174. doi:10.1017/S0020743814001548. S2CID 163103485. - Online publication: 9 February 2015 - DOI 10.1017/S0020743814001548

Reference notes

External links The Oil Kings - Simon and Schuster

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Oil Kings

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Oil Kings claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Oil Kings before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Oil Kings ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Oil Kings

In research: The Oil Kings appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Oil Kings in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Oil Kings is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2011 non-fiction books, Books about Iran, Books about Saudi Arabia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Oil Kings outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Oil Kings in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Oil Kings means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Oil Kings out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Oil Kings in simple terms?

Why does The Oil Kings matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Oil Kings?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Oil Kings.