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

Tom Shroder; John Konrad

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062063006 ISBN 13: 9780062063007

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2011

Synopsis

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 company's 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 tragedy - the worst environmental disaster in the history of the Unites States - a 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 clashes-between Southern roughnecks, college-educated Yankee engineers, and faceless corporate bureaucrats - and 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.

About this title

Review:

"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

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"

From the Back Cover:

A real-life thriller in the tradition of The Perfect Storm

In the spring of 2010 the world watched for weeks as more than 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, struggles, and ambitions of those who called it home.

From the little-known maritime colleges to Transocean's training schools and Houston headquarters 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 hundreds 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. Here is the harrowing minute-by-minute account of the fateful day, April 20, 2010, when the half-billion-dollar rig blew up, taking with it the lives of eleven people and leaving behind a swath of unprecedented natural destruction.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0062063006
• ISBN 13: 9780062063007
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288