Maddow takes us on a journey around the globe, revealing the greed and incompetence of Big Oil and Gas along the way, and drawing a surprising conclusion about why the Russian government hacked the 2016 U.S. election. She shows how Russia's rich reserve of crude have, paradoxically, stunted its growth, forcing Putin to maintain his power by spreading Russia's rot into its rivals, its neighbors, the West's most important alliances, and the United States. Chevron, BP, and a host of other industry players get their star turn, most notably ExxonMobil and deceptively well-behaved Rex Tillerson. The oil and gas industry has weakened democracies in developed and developing countries, fouled oceans and rivers, and propped up authoritarian thieves and killers. But being outraged at it is, according to Maddow, "like being indignant when a lion takes down and eats a gazelle. You can't really blame the lion... It's in her nature." Blowout is a call to contain the lion: to stop subsidizing the wealthiest businesses on earth, to fight for transparency, and to check the influence of the world's most destructive industry and its enablers.

Includes excerpt from Bag man : the wild crimes, audacious cover-up & spectacular downfall of a brazen crook in the White House.

Introduction: In a surrealist landscape --Splendor and fragrance -- The genie -- Stolen goods -- Charlie Hustle -- Thunder up! -- Rex shrugged -- A risk management problem -- Poster boy -- Practical realities -- Who does that? -- The other 1 percent -- Ultrahazardous activity -- A significant strategic step -- Trust -- The handsome hero -- This ain't no disco -- Such a man is born once every few decades -- Putin zassal -- All hail the mercenaries -- His idea of America -- Because they could -- "We greatly value our relationship" -- Pobeda! -- "Yeah that was crazy" -- Active appreciation -- It all ties back -- "All they have is this" -- "Constituency trumps everything" -- Containment.