Fire on the Horizon Large Print: The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disast er

(Paperback)

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On April 20, 2010, the half-billion-dollar floating oil rig Deepwater Horizon became a household name when it blew up, killing 11 people, shattering a multinational companys reputation, and leaving an unprecedented swath of devastation in its wake. Told by veteran oil rig captain John Konrad and award-winning Washington Post journalist Tom Shroder, Fire on the Horizon is the remarkable story of this tragedythe worst environmental disaster in the history of the Unites Statesa riveting chronicle of engineering hubris at odds with the Earth itself, of corporate greed and unforgettable selflessness.

An extraordinary true-life adventure tale reminiscent of The Perfect Storm, Fire on the Horizon captures life aboard the rig, vividly detailing in real time the events that preceded its demise. The authors identify the factors behind the accident, including the culture clashesbetween Southern roughnecks, college-educated Yankee engineers, and faceless corporate bureaucratsand expose what the inspectors overlooked.

Gripping and harrowing, Fire on the Horizon is both a page-turning account of that day and a narrative of the lives involved before, during, and after the explosion. It is also a warts-and-all portrait of deepwater drilling replete with the swashbuckling history, astonishing technology and disturbing vulnerability of this vital but little understood corner of our lives.

Reviews

"One of the best disaster books I've ever read...I tore through it like a novel but with the quesy knowledge that the whole damn thing is true. A phenomenal feat of journalism." -- Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm and War

"Harrowing...the best account yet of what went wrong." -- --Daily Beast

Author Bio

Tom Schroder is an editor and writer at the Washington Post. Under his stewardship, the paper won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in both 2008 and 2010. He is the author of the nonfiction bestseller, OLD SOULS, and lives in Vienna, Virginia.