"This is it, the book that stands as the most readable and thorough account of oil development in the Southwest, and serves as an invaluable reference work, the bible of the industry."

Houston Press

"A superb job in every aspect."

Claude V. Barrow, oil editor of the Daily Oklahoman

Oil! Titan of the Southwest is the exciting yet unbiased account of one of the most spectacular series of events in American history: the rush for oil riches in the great Mid-Continent and Gulf producing area, from the era of the Indians' oil springs through the blustery years of wildcatting to the recent more orderly, but equally dramatic period of exploration and development.

Here is the story of the discovery and production of oil in this rich domain, embracing the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. More than a history of the development of an industry, this absorbing narrative relates the rise of the giant corporations, the struggles of the independents, the adoption of scientific methods, and the emergence of controls.

Carl Coke Rister was Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma, then Distinguished Professor of History at what is now Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Focused on the American Southwest, his research produced numerous pathbreaking articles and books, including Southern Plainsmen, Fort Griffin on the Texas Frontier, and Robert E. Lee in Texas.