Fire on the Horizon: The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster - Hardcover

Tom Shroder; John Konrad

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062063006 ISBN 13: 9780062063007

Publisher: Harper, 2011

Synopsis

"A phenomenal feat of journalism. . . . I tore through it like a novel but with the queasy knowledge that the whole damn thing is true." —Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm and War

Blending exclusive first-person interviews and penetrating investigative reporting, oil rig captain John Konrad and veteran Washington Post writer Tom Shroder give the definitive, white-knuckled account of the Deepwater Horizon explosion—as well as a riveting insider’s view of the byzantine culture of offshore drilling that made the disaster inevitable. As the world continues to cope with the oil spill’s grim aftermath—with environmental and economic consequences all the more dire in a region still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina—Konrad and Schroder’s real-time account of the disaster shows us just where things went wrong, and points the way to a safer future for us all.

About this title

Review:

Fire on the Horizon is a fascinating look at a little-understood industry and a fast-paced and emotional story of the efforts to save the Deepwater Horizon. The authors’ account of the workers’ race to save themselves is thrilling and suspenseful, and yet the book is also a sensitive account of the lives forever changed.  Miami Herald

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/13/v-print/2109991/what-happened-on-deepwater...#ixzz1GWmwiSCV

From the Inside Flap:

A REAL-LIFE THRILLER IN THE TRADITION OF THE PERFECT STORM, JOHN KONRAD AND TOM SHRODER TAKE US ON AND OFF THE DEEPWATER HORIZON FOR A JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD AND AN UP-CLOSE, MULTIFACETED VIEW OF THE WORST ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER IN RECENT MEMORY.

In The Spring of 2010 the world watched for weeks as nearly 200 million gallons of crude oil billowed from a hole three miles deep in the Gulf of Mexico. Warnings of various and imminent environmental consequences dominated the news. Deepwater drilling--largely ignored or misunderstood to that point--exploded in the American consciousness in the worst way possible. Fire on the Horizon, written by veteran oil rig captain John Konrad and longtime Washington Post journalist Tom Shroder, recounts in vivid detail the life of the rig itself, from its construction in South Korea in the year 2000 to its improbable journey around the world to its disastrous end, and reveals the day-to-day lives, the struggles, and ambitions of those who called it home. From the little-known maritime colleges to Transocean's training schools and Houston head-quarters to the small towns all over the country where the wives and children of the Horizon's crew lived in the ever-present shadow of risk thousands of miles away, Fire on the Horizon offers full-scale portraits of the Horizon's captain, its chief mate, its chief mechanic, and others. What emerges is a white-knuckled chronicle of engineering hubris at odds with the earth itself, an unusual manifestation of corporate greed, and the unforgettable heroism of the men and women on board the Deepwater Horizon, culminating in the harrowing minute-by-minute account of the fateful day, April 20, 2010, when the half-billion-dollar rig blew up, taking the lives of eleven people with it and leaving behind a swath of unprecedented natural destruction.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0062063006
• ISBN 13: 9780062063007
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288