Oil!: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Oil!, credited to Upton Sinclair, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Oil! by Upton Sinclair. Read in English by Bob R. The two main characters of “Oil” are James Arnold Ross, called “Dad”, and his son James Jr., called “Bunny”. The book is loosely based on a real character (Edward L. Doheny) and some real events and locations, mostly in Southern California. The period was World War 1, and the events were not unlike those of the Teapot Dome Oil Scandal during the Harding administration. Like many of Sinclair’s novels, themes concern social conflicts and injustices, labor vs. management, democracy vs. socialism, and morality vs. immorality. In this story, Bunny’s father is a very successful oil entrepreneur, and ultimately a millionaire. There is great love between Bunny and his father, but over time, Bunny begins to question his father’s ethics. Bunny is a seeker for truth, throughout the story, as he grows through several decades—as a youth, as a soldier, as a college student, and as a wealthy oil producer. Religion plays a big role in the story, as one of the characters becomes a charismatic evangelist preaching a new faith, “the third revelation.” The film “There Will Be Blood” bases much of its story on this book. - Summary by Bob Rollins

Recording facts

• Recording title: Oil!
• Author credits: Upton Sinclair
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 40
• Combined MP3 track duration: 26:26:23

Catalogue topics

• Historical Fiction
• corporate corruption

Opening tracks: first 24 of 40

1. 00 - Preface — 2:00
2. 01 - The Ride — 1:07:15
3. 02 - The Lease, Parts 1-5 — 41:08
4. 03 - The Lease, Parts 6-9 — 34:50
5. 04 - The Drilling, Parts 1-5 — 44:24
6. 05 - The Drilling, Parts 6-8 — 44:36
7. 06 - The Ranch, Parts 1-5 — 43:41
8. 07 - The Ranch, Parts 6-9 — 37:09
9. 08 - The Revelation, Parts 1-4 — 40:53
10. 09 - The Revelation, Parts 5-7 — 40:27
11. 10 - The Wildcat, Parts 1-4 — 40:00
12. 11 - The Wildcat, Parts 5-8 — 46:25
13. 12 - The Strike, Parts 1-4 — 47:36
14. 13 - The Strike, Parts 5-9 — 50:08
15. 14 - The War, Parts 1-5 — 36:18
16. 15 - The War, Parts 6-9 — 22:40
17. 16 - The Victory — 1:00:13
18. 17 - The University, Parts 1-5 — 34:18
19. 18 - The University, Parts 6-11 — 43:33
20. 19 - The Rebel, Parts 1-6 — 34:50
21. 20 - The Rebel, Parts 7-11 — 37:01
22. 21 - The Siren, Parts 1-6 — 32:59
23. 22 - The Siren, Parts 7-12 — 35:17
24. 23 - The Monastery, Parts 1-7 — 44:46

Listen to this recording

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.