Fracking for oil and gas in the United States has proven highly profitable and productive. But it's not like everyone involved is getting rich and happy.
Witness the epicenter of the oil boom in the Dakotas: Williston, North Dakota. Its population exploded with oil workers, stressing the housing market and schools and many more community elements.
This is the story Blaire Briody tells in The New Wild West: Black Gold, Fracking, and Life in a North Dakota Boomtown. The book tracks the people who lived in the area before the boom, and the people who came to make the boom. The author visits with details.