The history of the shale plays and their boom is a recent one, yet Oil and Gas Investor editor-at-large Nissa Darbonne had begun to notice a trend of "misremembering" how those plays came to be established. With a view to set the story of the shales straight, she took on the mammoth task of documenting the exploration and development of the six major shale plays in North America in her new book, The American Shales. The book includes interviews with industry leaders, including the legendary George Mitchell.