John Thompson Reviews Rachel Maddow’s Book “Blowout” | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson Reviews Rachel Maddow’s Book “Blowout” | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson Reviews Rachel Maddow’s Book “Blowout”

Who better to review a book about the depredations of the fossil fuel industry than John Thompson, who lives in Oklahoma, where that industry controls the legislature? Thompson pointed out when he sent this review that the federal government spends ten times more to subsidize fossil fuels than it spends on education.

He writes:
Rachel Maddow’s Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest Most Destructive Industry on Earth is a case study in the “Resource Curse,” the social science concept explaining why petroleum produces corruption and poverty. It’s presented in Maddow’s inimitable style, providing a “guided tour of some of the landmarks, like Oklahoma, and Equatorial Guinea, and Russia.”

Maddow describes the oil and gas industry as “essentially a big casino” that “invites gangsterism, extortion, thuggery, and the sorts of folks who enjoy these hobbies.” Of course, those behaviors are more extreme in Equatorial Guinea and Russia, but American companies CONTINUE READING: John Thompson Reviews Rachel Maddow’s Book “Blowout” | Diane Ravitch's blog