"Join modern-day kids Annie and Nico as they travel through time and discover the history and importance of "black gold," the non-renewable natural resource known as oil. Witness the rise of oil throughout history from its unique uses in ancient times to the race to dig up more oil as it was discovered in the ground in 1857. Virtually ignored for thousands of years, oil transformed the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, contributing to amazing inventions, creating vast fortunes, and provoking terrible conflicts." -- Back cover.