Crude Awakening: Money, Mavericks, and Mayhem in Alaska

Alaska: land of the free and home of the oil-crazed? In this dramatic political saga, Coyne and Hopfinger, cofounders of the news site AlaskaDispatch, illustrate the relationship between oil companies and politics from 1968, when wildcatters first struck oil, to Sarah Palin’s ascent to the governorship. Without “crude,” the authors write, “Alaska’s future would become unimaginable. Crude would make everything that was about to happen to Alaska possible: wealth and corruption, growth and environmental degradation, soaring hopes and fading dreams. Alaska’s best known leaders—Sarah Palin and [the late senator] Ted Stevens—were born out of oil.” And in turn, the state’s bounty fueled America—and the ambitions of Sarah Palin. Often with a free indirect style, the authors chronicle the triangular relationship between Palin, Stevens, and oil mogul Bill Allen: we are introduced to Palin’s supposed thoughts, “Would she be stuck in this shabby office... for all that time?” It’s a juicy portrait of power and corruption, although Palin is portrayed cartoonishly as a heartless, conniving villain. Still it’s an engaging, well-drawn political history that initiates a necessary conversation on Alaska’s future now that the old-guard leaders like Stevens and Palin are gone, the Arctic is melting, and pervasive “corruption has been exposed.” (Nov.)