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A riveting account of the 1973 oil crisis that upended the global economy and reshaped geopolitics for good.

In 1973, King Faisal repeatedly warned America that if it continued its support of Israel, he would cut the global supply of oil. On October 5th, he made good on his threat, and single-handedly sent the world economy into freefall.

Hundreds of people lined up at gas stations to collect their weekly rations, while the bright lights of Times Square had blinked out. Congress waved aside years of environmental opposition and scrambled to drill for oil off the coast of Alaska. European leaders sneaked behind one another's backs to obtain secret supplies, even gatecrashing the Shah’s annual ski trip in a desperate attempt to broker a deal.

Through an unimaginable cast of characters – from Gaddafi and playboy princes, to a paranoid Nixon consumed by Watergate and eccentric Texan oil barons – Embargo explores the six-month crisis that irrevocably shifted the West's relationship with its sources of energy, and the distant world that fuelled them.

At a moment when an oil crisis again threatens to upend the global order, Embargo proves both a gripping story and a fascinating analogue.

© Philip Delves Broughton 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026