I came here to say something along these lines. One statistic from that book I’ve always loved is that the Allies burned seven billion barrels of oil during WWII - and six billion of them were pumped from the United States.
The transformational force of oil, and the quantities involved, were indeed staggering.
I'd like to add: I don't share Yergin's sympathies and enthusiasm for the oil industry or petroleum itself. Despite that, his book really is a treasure, and is among the better histories of energy out there.
Yep, and lots from the Permian Basin in particular, which is of course still an extremely productive field to this day.
The resurgence of continental U.S. oil production is a fascinating story and a technological marvel. There are upsides and downsides to fossil fuel extraction at that scale, but like the original posted noted, the transformational impact cannot be understated.
