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Jan Luiten van Zanden, Joost Jonker, Stephen Howarth, Keetie Sluyterman. A History of : Vol. 1: From Challenger to Industry Leader, 1890-1939: A History of Royal Dutch Shell. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. 566 S. ISBN 978-0-19-929878-5.

Jan Luiten van Zanden, Joost Jonker, Stephen Howarth, Keetie Sluyterman. A History of Royal Dutch Shell: Vol. 2: Powering the Revolution, 1939-1973: A History of Royal Dutch Shell. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. 514 S. , , ISBN 978-0-19-929879-2.

Jan Luiten van Zanden, Joost Jonker, Stephen Howarth, Keetie Sluyterman. A History of Royal Dutch Shell: Vol. 3: Keeping Competitive in Turbulen Markets, 1973-2007: A History of Royal Dutch Shell. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. 514 S. , , ISBN 978-0-19-923440-0.

Reviewed by Tyler Priest

Published on H-Soz-u-Kult (July, 2010)

Weighing nine kilograms (20 lbs.) and consist‐ interpreted an exhaustive amount of documenta‐ ing of more than 1,800 pages, this four-volume tion – archival, photographic, and moving picture “History of Royal Dutch Shell” literally stands as a – to give us perhaps the most comprehensive and monument to . Published to commemorate the balanced account possible of one of the towering centennial anniversary of the 1907 combination giants in the industry. This is a rare between Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Trans‐ achievement during an age (especially in the Unit‐ port and Trading Company, the sheer physical ed States) when sponsored eforts to examine an magnitude of the production is matched by its organization’s history, “warts and all,” tend to get scholarly achievement. Under sponsorship by compromised or killed. Joseph A. Pratt, Warts and Royal Dutch Shell, a team of four historians asso‐ All? An Elusive Balance in Contracted Corporate ciated with Utrecht University have compiled and H-Net Reviews

Histories about and Environment, in: The making. In the history tradition of Alfred Public Historian 26 (2000), p. 19-36. Chandler, they chose the former, looking at “strat‐ Simply clutching and reading this production egy, and the structure that followed from it; and is challenging. It is not made to curl up with in an on long-term performance” (p. 6). Five themes easy chair or to rest on your bedside table. The emerge from this research agenda and are sus‐ narrative is dense with analytical sophistication tained throughout the three volumes: operational and heavy with discussions about the intricacies spread, internal organization, and of corporate fnance and organization. The three performance, innovation, and the role of politics. main volumes include more than 1,000 brilliant At times, one wishes for greater attention to how photos, maps, and illustrations, some of which un‐ top-level decision-making played out at the na‐ fold into four-page panoramic displays. Each vol‐ tional and local levels, or to the ways in which the ume is accompanied by its own DVD, complete Group was constituted from the bottom-up as op‐ with a documentary video, historical flms posed to top down. But it would hardly be fair to (“Pearls from the Archives”), and a slide show of claim that this project is limited in scope. Besides, photographic images. This series is an imposing ground-level accounts of the Group’s operations presence for both scholars and average readers. in various countries, such as the , can be found in other book-length studies. See, for Royal Dutch Shell is a sprawling industrial example, Kendall Beaton, An Enterprise in Oil; A empire with a rich and varied history. Already by History of Shell in the United States, New York 1935, the “Group,” as it was commonly known, 1957; and Tyler Priest, The Ofshore Imperative: employed 180,000 people worldwide. It was Shell Oil’s Search for Petroleum in Postwar Ameri‐ formed through a famous alliance in 1907, in ca, College Station, TX 2007. which Royal Dutch Petroleum, led by the brilliant but autocratic , united its inter‐ The early history of Royal Dutch and Shell ests with Marcus Samuel’s Shell and also has been told many times before, most re‐ Trading Company. “From Opposite Ends Toward a cently in a sponsored study of Shell Transport and Common Purpose,” according to the frst chapter Trading by Stephen Howarth, the co-author of vol‐ of volume one, Royal Dutch Petroleum claimed a ume two Stephen Howarth, A Century in Oil. The 60:40 advantage in the alliance and control over “Shell” Transport and Trading Company management, but the combined entity always pre‐ 1897-1997, 1997. , and most extensively sented itself as British, adopting the Shell brand by Frederik Carel Gerretson’s classic four-volume and logo for its worldwide products and opera‐ “History of the Royal Dutch,” which, believe it or tions. Both Royal Dutch and Shell became holding not, only covers the period before World War I. companies for the three basic operating compa‐ Frederik Carel Gerretson, History of the Royal nies: N.V. De Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, Dutch, 4 vols., Leiden 1953-1957. The frst volume the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company, and the Asi‐ in the new series draws on Gerretson plus many atic Petroleum Company. Each of these companies other original sources gained from unrestricted and their subsidiaries was a legal entity, together access to the Shell Archives in London and The loosely comprising the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Hague. Bringing the narrative forward to the eve even though the Group itself did not exist in law of the Second World War, Joost Jonker and Jan anywhere in the world. Luiten van Zanden document the fascinating ten‐ sions and accommodations between the two very Writing a history of such a vast industrial en‐ diferent corporate and national cultures embod‐ terprise forces a choice between, as the authors ied by Shell and Royal Dutch. They cover the put it, “top-level” versus “local-level” decision- Group’s crucial contributions to the Allied caused

2 H-Net Reviews during the First World War, the Group’s use of ac‐ bargo of 1973. It provides a unique and invalu‐ cess to British fnance and the British empire to able perspective on this critical era from inside an undertake an ambitious global expansion in the oil major. Like its rivals, the Group found its share 1920s, and the big push into research and chemi‐ in crude oil reduced by the nationalizations of the cals during the tumultuous decade of the 1930s. , forcing it to search in more inhospitable The authors are also very forthright about the environments, such as the North , and experi‐ frictions that emerged within the Group as Deter‐ ment with ill-fated strategies of diversifcation ding pushed a new strategy “emphasizing product into , , and nuclear energy. Through the quality over volume and stable proftability over 1980s and 1990s, the Group was slower than its growth” (Vol. 1, p. 414) and as he developed sym‐ competitors in adapting to low and struc‐ pathies with Nazi prior to his retire‐ turally low profts. Meanwhile, its long-polished ment in 1936 and death in 1939. reputation sufered as a result of its controversial Volume two takes readers through the trauma presence in South , protests against the of World War II, when the Group sufered disloca‐ sinking of the , an oil storage installa‐ tion, reduced production, and the loss of manu‐ tion in the , and concerns about its envi‐ facturing and capacity. Out of the devasta‐ ronmental and human rights transgressions in tion and hardship, however, rose a new manage‐ . For books detailing these concerns and ment and that eased ofering a more critical perspective on Shell envi‐ many of the tensions between British and Dutch ronmental and human rights record than present‐ managers. Under the leadership of John Loudon, ed in this ofcial corporate history, see Ian Cum‐ “the most infuential of the Group’s leaders in the mins / John Beasant, Shell Shock: The Secrets and two decades following the war” (Vol. 2, p. 106), the Spin of an Oil Giant, London 2005; Jack Doyle, Rid‐ Group embarked on a decentralized expansion, ing the Dragon: Royal Dutch Shell & the permitting national operating companies to grow , Boston 2002; Steve Lerner, Diamond: A and fourish in their distinct cultural and political Struggle for Environmental Justice in ’s environments. Working again from the wide Chemical Corridor, Cambridge, MA 2005; Ike range of materials from the Shell archives, Okonta / Oronto Douglas, Where Vultures Feast: Howarth and Jonker reveal for the frst time the Shell, Human Rights, and Oil, London 2003; Daniel full complexity of the Group’s managerial and f‐ A. Omoweh, Shell Petroleum Development Com‐ nancial relationship with its increasingly vital but pany, the State and Underdevelopment of Nige‐ partially owned operations in the United States, ria’s : A Study in Environmental Degra‐ which has long been opaque to outside observers. dation, Trenton NJ 2005. In the mid-1990s, the They also analyze the key shift in the Group’s E&P Group initiated a long and painful process of re‐ focus from to the Western Hemisphere. structuring, slashing costs and personnel, divest‐ The fnal chapters of this volume examine the ing from the chemical business, and reorganizing struggles of the Group, as a “crude short” organi‐ its various functions on a more centralized and zation, to shift E&P to ofshore opera‐ global basis. tions and non-OPEC countries and to build up for‐ The Group’s dramatically improved perfor‐ midable downstream and busi‐ mance, however, was overshadowed by a scandal nesses. in 2004 over oil and reserves accounting that Volume three, by Keetie Sluyterman, covers led to the resignation of three senior executives. the Group’s eforts to remain competitive during In order to regain the trust of the fnancial mar‐ the turbulent years that began with the OPEC em‐ kets, the Group overhauled its governance struc‐ ture and formally merged Royal Dutch and Shell

3 H-Net Reviews into Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which was, as the fnal chapter describes it, “The Merger of 1907 Taken to its Logical Conclusion.” One does not have to ac‐ cept this teleology to admire Sluyterman’s mea‐ sured and insightful interpretation of the corpo‐ rate dramas playing out around her as she worked on the perilous task of bringing the histo‐ ry closer to the present. In the short space of this review, it is impossi‐ ble to do justice to all the treasures contained in “A History of Royal Dutch Shell.” It will most likely be treated as an encyclopedia, a sourcebook con‐ sulted by anyone writing about the history of oil and energy. But for those who have the en‐ durance to wade through all the volumes in the series, it will open up new vistas on the broader history of the twentieth century.

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Citation: Tyler Priest. Review of van Zanden, Jan Luiten; Jonker, Joost ; Howarth, Stephen; Sluyterman, Keetie. A History of Royal Dutch Shell: Vol. 1: From Challenger to Joint Industry Leader, 1890-1939: A History of Royal Dutch Shell. ; van Zanden, Jan Luiten; Jonker, Joost ; Howarth, Stephen; Sluyterman, Keetie. A History of Royal Dutch Shell: Vol. 2: Powering the Hydrocarbon Revolution, 1939-1973: A History of Royal Dutch Shell. ; van Zanden, Jan Luiten; Jonker, Joost ; Howarth, Stephen; Sluyterman, Keetie. A History of Royal Dutch Shell: Vol. 3: Keeping Competitive in Turbulen Markets, 1973-2007: A History of Royal Dutch Shell. H-Soz-u-Kult, H-Net Reviews. July, 2010.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=30811

This is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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