I read Oil! a few months ago because, of course, of There Will Be Blood, and it is, of course, wildly different from the movie, particularly in the second half. (I promise the following won’t ruin anything for anyone who actually intends on reading it:) It ends with what is practically an apocalyptic orgy during the presidential election returns, which the conservative candidate—Calvin Coolidge—who represents the interests of Big Oil, wins. It’s especially effective when juxtaposed against his dire descriptions of the poverty the poor live in, as well as their often fatal attempts to form unions.
I know that Obama is in the lead right now, but I felt that the following excerpt was an appropriate reminder of how important this election is, displays how this election could turn out if it goes the wrong way, and also has freakish similarities to today, in spite of taking place in 1924.
"There would be election returns read, more of those triumphant, glorious majorities for the strong silent statesman; and a magnate who knew that this victory meant several million dollars off his income taxes, or an oil concession in Mesopotamia or Venezuela won by American bribes and held by American battleships—such a man would let out a whoop, and get up in the middle of the floor and show how he used to dance the double shuffle when he was a farm-hand; and then he would fall into the lap of his mistress with a million dollars worth of diamonds on her naked flesh, and the singer...would perform the latest jazz success, and the oil-magnate and his mistress would warble the chorus:
"What do I do?
I toodle-doodle-doo,
I toodle-doodle-doodle-doodle-doo!"
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