Queen of the Oil Club--#58 finished

I had not heard of Wanda Jablonski before I saw this book and after reading this book I am somewhat surprised that I hadn't.  Not that a report of oil business from the '40s into the '80s should be widely known but just the fact of how she became the reporter of oil news because of her contacts.  This was before, during and after OPEC founding, which she played more than a little role in.  Her ability to get to the insiders in the oil business and not just interview them but to almost become an advisor to both sides, the big oil companies and the leaders of the countries with oil.  Also this was the time when the Middle East countries were really starting to make money on their oil and she was able to talk to the leaders, a western female reporter gaining that access, really remarkable.

I liked the book and as the author noted she was really dependent upon interviews of people that knew Wanda since Wanda had no diary and few papers.  She rarely even took notes, committing to memory her interviews.  But she was also the kind of reporter that wanted to get the story correct so she would go over her story it seemed with the contact to make sure it was what they wanted out there.  She really wasn't a kind of gotcha reporter like we have today that is looking to trip up a person.

After reading this book, it makes me realize how important news reporters are and how lacking we are of them now.  I don't know if it is the 24 hour news cycle, the internet, the lack of trust in news people, the slow death of newspapers & printed media, etc but it just doesn't seem there is the quality to the news as there used to be.  Or maybe that is just my "get off my lawn" statement, in that the quality in news has always been hard to find.  Oh well, a good book and an interesting person.

I will post it on PBS at some point to pass along for someone else to enjoy, I think there are 3 WL for it.