A collaboration between a veteran oil rig captain, John Konrad, and Tom Shroder, a former award-winning editor and writer at the Washington Post, FIRE ON THE HORIZON is an extraordinary adventure narrative concerning the worst environmental disaster in the history of the U.S. Here is the story of engineering hubris at odds with the Earth itself, an unusual manifestation of corporate greed, and unforgettable heroism from the men (and the sole woman) on board the Deepwater Horizon, the mammoth rig that BP sent to the gulf to strike it deep and rich.
The book captures the life and tensions aboard the oil rig with vivid detail -- the clash of cultures between southern-boy roughnecks, college-educated Yankee engineers, and faceless corporate presence -- and explains in clear and accessible prose the logistical makeup of the rig and specifically what went overlooked at inspections. A page-turner in the style of A PERFECT STORM, the book culminates in the harrowing tick-tock account of the fateful day on April 20, 2010, when this billion dollar floating rig blew up, taking the lives of 11 people with it and leaving an unprecedented swath of natural destruction.
The book is both a page-turning account of that day, and a narrative of the lives involved -- before, during and after the explosion. Moreover, it is a whole-scale portrait of deepwater drilling, with all the attendant political, environmental, and economic concerns occasioned by the spill.
