Antonia Juhasz is a policy-analyst, author, and activist living in San Francisco. She is a fellow with the Institute for Policy Studies and Oil Change International and a senior scholar with Foreign Policy In Focus – all Washington, DC-based research and advocacy organizations. She has taught at the New College of California in the Activism and Social Change Masters Program and as a guest lecturer on U.S. Foreign Policy at the McMaster University Labour Studies Program.
A leading oil industry expert and critic, Juhasz also specializes in international trade and finance policy. She has a Masters Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University, was a legislative assistant to two United States Members of Congress (John Conyers, Jr. – D-MI – and Elijah E. Cummings – D-MD), and was the Project Director of the International Forum on Globalization.
Juhasz is the author of The Tyranny of Oil: The World’s Most Powerful Industry, and What We Must Do To Stop It, described as "a worthy successor to 'The Prize'... A riveting read with a bold blueprint for ending the madness,” by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s former EPA Secretary, Terry Tamminen. In Tyranny Juhasz provides the hardest-hitting exposé of the oil industry in decades, answering today's most pressing energy questions: Why are oil and gasoline prices rising so quickly? Where will prices go in the future? Who’s really controlling those prices? How much oil is left? How far will Big Oil go to get it? And at what cost to the economy, environment, human rights, worker safety, public health, democracy, and America’s place in the world?
Drawing on considerable historical research, Juhasz explores the parallels between today’s companies and Standard Oil, the most powerful corporation of the early 20th century. With today’s oil giants charged with collusion, price-gouging, anti-competitive behavior, undue dominance over our political system, and unabashed greed, Juhasz calls boldly for the breakup of Big Oil. Tyranny blends history, original investigative research and reporting, candid interviews with key insiders, and a unique focus on activism with a host of real-world policy solutions just in time for the 2008 elections.
Juhasz is also the author of The Bu$h Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time, which uncovers the history and key role of U.S. corporations in the creation of the Bush administration’s foreign policy agenda. Juhasz reveals the “oil time-line” driving the Iraq war, and describes the long-term costs and consequences of the administration’s attempt to fundamentally transform the economies of Iraq and the Middle East.
A passionate writer and speaker who conveys complex information in a manner that is both accessible and motivational to others, Juhasz has conducted lectures across the U.S. and around the world and has been a frequent media commentator for television and radio, including: Kudlow & Company, The Business Hour with Neil P. Cavuto, Hannity & Colmes, Washington Journal, NPR’s Diane Rehm Show, Talk of the Nation, To The Point, and Marketplace, Bloomberg Radio News, Democracy Now! and Air America Radio. An award-winning writer, her work has been featured in dozens of publications, including the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Petroleum Review Magazine, Cambridge University Review of International Relations Journal, Roll Call, Alternet.org, and The Huffington Post.
Praise for Tyranny of Oil:
"timely, blistering critique... white-hot... Explosive fuel for the raging debate on oil prices."
-- Kirkus Starred Review
"...part homage to 150 years of anti-monopoly muckraking and trust-busting and part signpost to where the leading edge of the environmental and social activist movements are headed."
-- Toronto Star
Juhasz "reminds us that those who don't learn the lessons of history are fated to repeat its mistakes."
-- USA Today
"...a brave, groundbreaking case study.... A good first step toward true energy independence is to read this insightful book."
-- Christian Science Monitor
"...well-written.... presciently criticizes the weak oversight of the oil futures market."
-- Washington Post
"...thorough, readable takedown of Big Oil."
-- Publishers Weekly
"A worthy successor to 'The Prize'... A riveting read with a bold blueprint for ending the madness."
-- Terry Tamminen, former Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency
"Juhasz bravely and expertly exposes the inner workings of an industry and a government riddled with secrets, lies, and deception. She offers the crucial hard evidence -- without which public awareness and reform are impossible. Read this book and refuse to be tyranny's accomplice."
-- Daniel Ellsberg, author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers
"At last, a no-holds-barred book that traces the story of Big Oil from the rise of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company to the scandals and obscene profits of today. In the spirit of Ida Tarbell, the legendary muckraker who first exposed Rockefeller's monopolist schemes, Juhasz convincingly demonstrates how Standard Oil's descendants -- Exxon, Mobil, and Chevron -- have reassembled much of the power once wielded by their progenitor."
-- Professor Michael T. Klare, author of Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy