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Long before Jed Clampett discovered “a bubblin’ crude” on The Beverly Hillbillies, the world was captivated by oil. Or, as the journalist, novelist, and historian Don Gillmor recounts in On Oil, captivated by a dream of riches that is leading us down a disastrous path. Since the first rig was built in 1847, in Azerbaijan, oil and gas have seeped into our everyday existence, creating symbols of false pride and the illusory hope that somehow pumping black gold can foster a better way of life.

In his slim but important book, Gillmor exposes the many myths of a multi-billion-dollar industry while also pointing fingers at those who have become phony King Midases, complicit with an array of dictators ruling the world’s petrostates. They have done so while promoting their quest as God’s work. Oilmen, Gillmor notes, display a “strong streak of evangelism.”

Fittingly, then, Gillmor turns to Biblical references throughout. Near the end, he quotes...