"Although Africa has long been known to be rich in oil, extracting it hadn't seemed worth the effort and risk until recently. But with the price of Middle Eastern crude oil skyrocketing and advancing technology making reserves easier to tap, the region has become the scene of a competition between major powers that recalls the nineteenth-century scramble for colonization there. Already the United States imports mor eof its oil from Africa than form Saudi Arabia, and China, too, looks to the continent for its entery security. What does this giddy new oil boom mean--for america, for the world, for Africans themselves?"--Inside cover.
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