From Iraq and Saudi Arabia to Equatorial Guinea and Ecuador, what has been the impact of oil on the countries that produce it? To what extent has petroleum production helped or hurt nations develop not just economically, but also politically and socially? How has the race for contracts between American, Chinese, and other countries' firms affected local communities? And, how have campaigns like that of Hugo Ch??vez to redistribute oil wealth in Venezuela created new economic and political crises? With a focus on the rebels, royalty, environmentalists, indigenous activists, dictators, and CEOs associated with the petroleum industry, Peter Maass examines the world that oil has created in his new book Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil. Peter Maass is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. Previously, he worked as a journalist for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune and has reported from the Balkans, the Middle East, Asia, South America and Africa. Maas is the author of Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War, on the Bosnian conflict, which won The Los Angeles Times Book Prize (for nonfiction) and the Overseas Press Club Book Prize, and was a finalist for several other literary awards He also has written for The New Yorker, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, Outside and Slate, among others. Co-Sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Northern California and the Mechanics' Institute Library