# Discovery! The Search for Arabian Oil

The world was forever changed when American geologists and engineers in the 1930s and 1940s discovered oil in Saudi Arabia and developed the Middle Eastern oil industry. Timothy J. Barger and Thomas W. Lippman examined this significant period in history when they discussed a book by the late, award-winning author Wallace Stegner titled "Discovery! The Search for Arabian Oil." The event was sponsored by the Library's Science, Technology and Business Division, and African and Middle Eastern Division. In 1955, Aramco (the Arabian American Oil Company) commissioned Stegner to write a narrative account of the creation and development of the oil industry in Saudi Arabia. The manuscript was shelved until 1967, when it was unearthed, purged of material that had worried Aramco executives and published in 14 installments of "Aramco World." An abridged version was published in Lebanon in 1971, but it remained unpublished in the United States until September 2007. In "Discovery! The Search for Arabian Oil," Stegner chronicled the construction of the first wells, the political and corporate tussles, and the collaboration across cultures. It's a tale that includes Saudi princes, U.S. scientists, mechanics, desert guides, British nobility and a cast of colorful characters. Stegner (1909-1993), who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 for "Angle of Repose," was the author of more than 30 books. He was a writing professor at Stanford University when Aramco hired him to write the narrative account…

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2007
- By: Library Of Congress. Science, Technology, And Business Division
- Genres: Science, History
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021687908/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2021687908?play=1)