Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions
by Ben Mezrich
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Ben Mezrich, author of the New York Times bestseller Bringing Down the House, returns with an astonishing story of Ivy League hedge-fund cowboys, high stakes, and the Asian underworld. John Malcolm was the ultimate gunslinger in the Wild East, prepared to take on any level of risk in making mind-boggling sums of money. He and his friends were hedge-fund cowboys, living life on the adrenaline-, sex-, and drugs-fueled edge--kids running billion-dollar portfolios, trading information in the show more back rooms of high-class brothels and at VIP tables in nightclubs across the Far East. Malcolm and his Ivy League-schooled twenty-something colleagues, with their warped sense of morality, created their own economic theory that would culminate in a single deal the likes of which had never been seen before--or since. Ugly Americans is a story of extremes, charged with wealth, nerve, excess, and glamour. A real-life mixture of Liar's Poker and Wall Street, brimming with intense action, romance, underground sex, vivid locales, and exotic characters, Ugly Americans is the untold true story that rocked the financial community. show lessTags
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Ben Mezrich is the master of creative non-fiction. He has a bit of Arthur Hailey in him and well, it is a compliment. Ugly Americans is a well-written book. I'm not too aware of financial terminology, but then I didn't miss a beat. It is not blinded with science. The style is engaging and racy. I loved it!
This book is an interesting read whose element of reality adds to the lustre of supplemental fictional elements.
Ben Mezrich's style of writing is conversational and thereby an easy read. The story was fascinating enough to keep me interested in its outcome, and the overall historical setting made me try to recall exactly what happened with PCCW at its IPO.
Ben Mezrich's style of writing is conversational and thereby an easy read. The story was fascinating enough to keep me interested in its outcome, and the overall historical setting made me try to recall exactly what happened with PCCW at its IPO.
A great read! Mezrich tells a great story and really brings out the nature of the people behind the characters. It's hard to believe it's true, but to some extent that's what I expected. It reads more like an outlandish screenplay, but what's wrong with that? It's a great story true or not.
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44+ Works 8,747 Members
Ben Mezrich was born in 1969 and received a degree in social studies from Harvard University in 1991. He originally wrote fiction, occasionally under the pseudonym Holden Scott, before switching to nonfiction. His nonfiction works include Ugly Americans, Busting Vegas, Rigged, and Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist show more in History. Two of his books were made into films. In 2008, Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions was made into the film 21 and in 2010, The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal was made into the film Social Network. He appeared on Court TV in the series High Stakes with Ben Mezrich and has hosted the World Series of Blackjack. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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