The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters
by Gregory Zuckerman
View on GoodreadsWall Street Journal reporter Gregory Zuckerman's inside account of the American shale boom — how a handful of risk-addicted wildcatters like Aubrey McClendon and Harold Hamm bet everything on fracking, reversed America's dependence on imported energy, brought OPEC to its knees, and made and lost astonishing fortunes while igniting a global environmental fight.
Core ideas
- The book's central story is that the American shale revolution was driven not by the oil majors but by a handful of obstinate outsiders — Aubrey McClendon, Harold Hamm, Mark Papa — who bet everything on hydraulic fracturing of dense shale that Exxon and Chevron had dismissed as a waste of time, and in a few years reversed America's energy dependence.
- Zuckerman frames the frackers as modern wildcatters and robber barons: the narrative is a character study of ambition, risk, and foible — fortunes made and lost on a brutal competitive edge — more than a technical account, with his exclusive WSJ access driving an unusually intimate portrait of headstrong drillers.
- The book holds the paradox without resolving it: the same revolution that delivered energy independence and brought OPEC to its knees also triggered a global environmental controversy over fracking — a world-changing achievement and a lasting source of ecological conflict at once.
Published2013
Pages416
ISBN9781591846451
ReadJul 2026
