The New Kings of Crude China, India, and the Global Struggle for Oil in Sudan and South Sudan

Luke Patey

Hurst, 356 pages, £25

From the dusty streets of an African capital to Asia’s glistening corporate towers, this book provides a look at how two rising economies—China and India—established new oil empires in Sudan amid one of Africa’s longest-running and deadliest civil wars. Patey weaves together the stories of hardened oilmen, powerful politicians, rebel fighters and human rights activists to show how the lure of oil brought the two countries into Sudan—only to later ensnare both in the messy politics of a divided country.