In this, the first hard-hitting examination of ExxonMobilthe largest and most powerful private corporation in the United StatesSteve Coll reveals the true extent of its power. Private Empire pulls back the curtain, tracking the corporations recent history and its central role on the world stage, beginning with the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 and leading to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The action spans the globefeaturing kidnapping cases, civil wars, and high-stakes struggles at the Kremlinand the narrative is driven by larger-than-life characters, including corporate legend Lee Iron Ass Raymond, ExxonMobils chief executive until 2005, and current chairman and chief executive Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump's nomination for Secretary of State. A penetrating, news-breaking study, Private Empire is a defining portrait of Big Oil in American politics and foreign policy.