A behind-the-scenes look at the world’s biggest and most tangled legal case.
On their way to winning a $19 billion verdict against Chevron in Ecuador, lawyers for the Amazonian plaintiffs invite a documentary film crew to record their every move. Unfortunately, their every move includes fraud. Chevron subpoenas the outtakes, and follows the clues from one improbable fraud to another. In time, the oil company turns the tables, and sues the plaintiffs for racketeering. The drama culminates in a classic New York “counter-trial,†where it’s the testimony of one corrupt ex-judge against another.
A detective story and courtroom drama, with an epilogue of keen commentary, Crude Awakening is the definitive account of Chevron’s struggle to prove that the truth is the truth—even when the truth is on the side of the big bad oil company, and not on the side of the charismatic little guy fighting for the indigenous people of the Amazon rain forest. Crude Awakening will captivate both students of law and students of human nature.
About the Author
Michael D. Goldhaber is “The Global Lawyer†columnist for The American Lawyer, and senior international correspondent for American Lawyer Media. He is a graduate of Harvard College, Columbia Journalism School, and Yale Law School. His previous book, A People’s History of the European Court of Human Rights, tells the story of landmark European cases from the perspective of heroic human rights plaintiffs.
All author royalties will be donated to indigenous causes in Ecuador.