About book The King Of Oil: The Secret Lives Of Marc Rich (2009)
A good book but not a great book. Entertaining all the way through. I must admit I had no idea Marc Rich & Co was Glencore, the listed company and in fact had no idea who Marc Rich was before I read this book.I did feel that while the author kept stating his neutrality, he was rather sympathetic to Marc Rich. Marc Rich is a billionaire and former commodities trader who was hunted by the US law enforcement agencies for a myriad of charges. My own take is that it was a bit of a witch-hunt but I would hardly say that Marc Rich is an upstanding citizen. He traded with many blacklisted countries such as Cuba, Apartheid South Africa and Iran. I believe everything he did was motivated by profit. I would recommend this book as an entertaining and quick read for anyone interested in the commodities world or would like to read a scandalous story. This book tells, in plain language the incredible story of Marc Rich. Author Daniel Ammann takes very complicated business and legal issues and makes them clear and interesting. The story flows nicely. It is a "can't put it down" book.When you're finished, you sympathize with Rich. Marc Rich (speaking through Ammann's text) is convincing in his contention that he's been over-prosecuted and demonized beyond his alleged crimes. Many believe he is the ultimate international demon, but the reasons for his notoriety are not clear to the general public. After he paid his company's back taxes plus fees, US prosecutors, who were building name recognition to go on to more powerful or lucrative careers, pressed for a criminal conviction. Significant resources were used in building this case and hunting him down. Bill Clinton could certainly sympathize with the harassment factor.Rich is less convincing in justifying his dealing with the world's most oppressive governments. While saying these deals are merely business, he claims that in bringing commerce to these sad and poor countries he has made life better there. Like the Nicholas Cage character in Lord of War [Blu-ray], he believes "This is not our war." I believe he made life better for the dictators and their henchmen at the top, thereby retarding the development of better societies.Rich showed confidence in his story by giving Ammann unprecedented access to people and records and ceding him full editorial and content control. Ammann uses his access well and covers Rich's family, his rise, his methods and lifestyle. Rich's terse answers in the interview at the end show wisdom and experience. To me, his flaw is that he believes that everything legal is moral.I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in this person and topic.
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