Although Sinclair asserted that “the only personalities to be recognized in this book are three Presidents of the United States” and goes on to say “the reader sho spends his time seeking to identify oil magnates and moving picture stars will be wasting time”, it seems more than likely Sinclair used Los Angeles oil tycoon Edward Doheny as the model for the character, J. Arnold Ross. Banned in Boston as salacious, this was the basis for the movie There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1927. 1^st trade edition after the 1927 edition Sinclair self-published in Long Beach. 527 pages. Hardcover book with the very elusive dustjacket. The book has some shelf wear, wear at the bottom of the spine and to the board corners, one of which has been slightly bumped. There is an ink ownership imprint on the front free endpaper indicating that the book once belonged to the American Merchant Marine Library Association. There is also the remnant of an ink imprint (now illegible) to the top of the text block. Overall, the condition of the book is VERY GOOD. The dustjacket is price-clipped, is torn approximately 1.5 inches along the fold of both front and rear inside flaps beginning at the top edge. There are 9 other holes of varying sizes (from pinhole to one about the size of a pencil eraser) dispersed randomly; however, none of them result in any loss of lettering or decoration. Overall, the dustjacket is better than GOOD and could probably be deemed VERY GOOD, imperfections notwithstanding.