In a unique journey from the oil fields of the Caspian to the refineries and financial centres of Northern Europe, Platform tracks the concealed routes along which the lifeblood of our economy is pumped. The stupendous wealth of Azerbaijani crude has long inspired dreams of a world remade. From the revolutionary Futurism of Baku in the 1920s to the unblinking Capitalism of modern London, the drive to control oil reserves – and hence people and events – has shattered environments and shaped societies.

Building on a decade of study with Platform, Marriott and Minio-Paluello guide us through a previously obscure landscape of energy, resistance and profit that has marked Europe for over a century. They blend the empathy of committed travel writing with the precision of investigative journalism in a book that mixes the best of several genres.

The human race travels “the oil road, and this book helps us to realize where it is leading and why it is time to change direction.”

Join co-sponsors IPS’ Sustainable Energy and Economy Network, Platform, Teaching for Change, Busboys and Poets and Oil Change International for discussion and book signing with author Jame Marriot, who is in the US. from the UK on his eastcoast tour for his new book, The Oil Road; Journeys From The Caspian Sea to the City of London.