Ebook: The new Wild West: black gold, fracking, and life in a North Dakota boomtown

Williston, North Dakota was a sleepy farm town for generations, until the frackers arrived. The oil companies moved into Williston, overtaking the town and setting off a boom that America hadn't seen since the Gold Rush. Workers from all over the country descended, chasing jobs that promised them six-figure salaries and demanded no prior experience. But for every person chasing the American dream, there is a darker side. Reports of violence and sexual assault skyrocketed, schools overflowed, and housing prices soared. Real estate became such a hot commodity that tent cities popped up, and many workers' only option was to live out of their cars. Farmers whose families had tended the land for generations watched, powerless, as their fields were bulldozed to make way for one oil rig after another. Using a mix of first-person adventure and cultural analysis, Blaire Briody describes what happens to a community when the energy industry is allowed to set up in a town with little regulation or oversight -- and at what cost.