A CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL ODYSSEY as much as a manual on negotiations, Across the Table will prepare you to negotiate both in high-stakes business environments and in everyday situations.

Oil is rarely found in nice places, William A. Young observes. An international oil negotiator from the 1980s into the new millennium, Young has negotiated with Russians adapting to the newfound freedoms and challenges of the post-Soviet era; Filipinos on the verge of the People Power Revolution; and Chinese looking to collaborate with foreign firms to meet their insatiable appetite for energy.

Sit at the table with the author in Azerbaijan, consuming aorta stew, and enduring compulsory vodka toasts. Fight off attackers on the streets of Moscow and share a Vietnamese hotel room with a fat rat. Suffer through the bone-chilling temperatures of western Siberia, the unrelenting snows of Russia’s Sakhalin Island, and the remoteness of Papua New Guinea’s impenetrable rain forests. Young has led or participated in a number of noteworthy negotiations, including what Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev called the Deal of the Century -the right to develop a multi-billion-barrel oil field in the Caspian Sea.

Across the Table is chock-full of practical advice on how to negotiate. Learn to hammer out win-win outcomes; to use emotions in your favor; to respond to different negotiating styles; and, most importantly, to close the deal. For business professionals negotiating with other companies or governments, or consumers seeking to obtain the best price on a car or a home, Young’s negotiation skills are invaluable to your success.