The Oil Rush to the Caspian Sea

The disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s unleashed a modern-day Klondike in the bleak but oil-soaked region around the Caspian Sea. Stories of how companies such as Chevron (CVX ) and ExxonMobil (XOM ) gained access to the huge oil fields of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have leaked out in dribs and drabs, but now Steve LeVine has gathered the whole Wild East tale in one canny and entertaining book, .

LeVine, who spent many years in Russia and its neighbors as a correspondent for and other publications, has filled his volume with intriguing, sometimes daunting characters. Ludvig Nobel, a 19th century entrepreneur and member of the famed Swedish family, organized the Caspian oil trade much as John D. Rockefeller did the U.S. business. Zeynalabdin Tagiyev, an Azeri oil baron of the 1880s, once ordered servants to castrate a rival for his wife's affections. Marat Manafov, Azerbaijan's oil negotiator during the 1990s, shook up meetings by pointing a pistol at Western oil executives.