The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich

The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich

author: Daniel Ammann
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.15
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2010/05/12
date added: 2010/05/12
shelves: biography, business, crime, history, non-fiction, politics
review:
I’m still working on what I think about this. Oddly enough, it’s become bound up in my head with my thoughts about Facebook. (In short, just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.) I had a instant distrust of Rich, and I think the brief reference to Ayn Rand has something to do with it. Then "realpolitik", and one thinks of Kissinger, and I think there’s a connection amongst people who have fled dictatorships, and one reaction being the development of an amoral outlook, at least in some aspects of life, and of individuality above all else. I still can’t quite articulate exactly what bothered me, which also bothers me.

It’s a well-written book, though, definitely something to make a person think about money and business and politics. A few oddities in turns of phrase that I suspect come from the author not being a native English speaker. A sympathetic portrayal, is my take, in what seems like a very Swiss (neutral turned up to 11) way.

I think I recommend it. (C was definitely into it, and recommended it to me.)