For the first time, hear the story of the rise and ruin of the global oil market— in the words of the oil traders who built it.

Meet the self-anointed kings of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the place where global oil prices are set to this day. In some ways, they are everything you would expect them to be: a secretive, members-only club of men and women who live lavish lifestyles; cavort with politicians, strippers, and celebrities; and blissfully jack up oil prices while profiting off the misery of the working class.

In other ways, they are nothing you can imagine: many come from working-class families themselves, the progeny of Jewish, Irish, and Italian immigrants who escaped war-torn Europe to claw their way to the top.

Led by the reluctant son of a produce merchant, the rough-and-tumble traders of Nymex usurped the power of Big Oil in the 1980s to create an even bigger and more dangerous colossus—an all-too-human experiment in how raw ambition and the endless quest for wealth can change the very nature of both man and market.

Part oral history and part exposé, The Asylum ventures deep into the belly of the beast, revealing how the unchecked and incestuous relationships between Washington and Wall Street paved the way for an era of $100 oil. From the grand alliances to the outrageous fortunes that have repeatedly brought the economy to the brink, this is one real-life story both Washington and Wall Street don't want you to read.