Author: Peter Maass

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. In 1983, after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, I went to Brussels as a copy editor for The Wall Street Journal/Europe. I left the Journal in 1985 to write for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, covering NATO and the European Union. In 1987 I moved to Seoul, South Korea, where I wrote primarily for The Washington Post. After three years in Asia I moved to Budapest to cover Eastern Europe and the Balkans. I spent most of 1992 and 1993 covering the war in Bosnia for the Post.

The Oddest and the Best

I’ve never worked with Antonin Kratochvil, the photographer, but I know him slightly and love his work, which is beautiful and disturbing (perhaps an appropriate description of Antonin, too). Outside magazine has just published ... (Read more)

The Bongo System

In Gabon, it was known as “the Bongo system.” For 41 years, Omar Bongo ruled Gabon and stole its oil revenues. As the Times explains, the system consisted of “forsaking ... (Read more)

Crude, the Documentary

A chapter of my book (publication is a week from today) focuses on a multi-billion dollar environmental lawsuit against Chevron in Ecuador. Joe Berlinger, director of the incomparable “Brother’s Keeper” and “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” has just released his documentary ... (Read more)

An Excerpt of Crude World

The September issue of Foreign Policy includes an excerpt from Crude World. The issue just hit the newstands and has been posted online, too. (I’ve also ... (Read more)

Scenes from the Violent Twilight of Oil

Foreign Policy
September 8, 2009

Across the globe, oil is invoked as an agent of destiny. Oil will make you rich, oil will make you poor, oil will bring war, oil will deliver peace, oil will shape our world as much as the glaciers did in the Ice Age.

But how?

Oil is not a machine that can be disassembled ... (Read more)

A Cover Story

A while back my editor at Knopf, Jon Segal, showed me a proposed cover for Crude World. I really liked some elements of the design but other things didn’t work for me. So what to do? Knopf would not use a cover I didn’t approve of, but Jon reminded me that Knopf had a bit more experience ... (Read more)

Hey, Good Looking!

No, I’m not talking about you, though I’m sure you’re good looking, too. I’m talking about this website, which has been redesigned to focus on Crude World. Please go ahead and rummage through the revised site, which looks fantastic (I know, I’m biased). The wonderful Andrew Hearst ... (Read more)

Section Fronts and Sidebars

Every unhappy oil-producing nation is unhappy in its own way, but all are touched by oil’s power to worsen existing problems and create new ones. Crude World explores the troubled world oil has created–from Saudi Arabia to Iraq, Russia, Nigeria, Venezuela and beyond. The book features ... (Read more)

All Things FCPA

Several chapters of Crude World delve into oil corruption, and that means I have spent an unhealthy amount of time looking into prosecutions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices ... (Read more)

Cursed by Oil?

Today’s New York Times offers not one but two stories about oil and power. The first, on the front page, delves into Iran and the ways the Revolutionary Guards have become, as the article says, ... (Read more)