Ugly Americans

The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions

By: Ben Mezrich

Narrated by: TBD

Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Ugly Americans is the true story of John Malcolm, a Princeton graduate who traveled halfway around the world in search of the American dream and pulled off a trade that could be described as the biggest deal in the history of the financial markets.

Without speaking a word of Japanese, with barely a penny in his pocket, Malcolm was thrown into the bizarre life of an ex-pat trader. Surrounded by characters ripped right out of a Hollywood thriller, he quickly learned how to survive in a cutthroat world, at the feet of the biggest players the markets have ever known.

Malcolm was first an assistant trading huge positions for Nick Leeson, the rogue trader who brought down Barings Bank, the oldest in England. He was the right-hand man to an enigmatic and brilliant hedge-fund cowboy, Dean Carney, and grew into one of the biggest derivatives traders in all of Asia. Along the way, Malcolm fell in love with the daughter of a Yakuza gangster, built a vast fortune out of thin air, and came head to head with violent Japanese mobsters. Malcolm and his twentysomething, Ivy League-schooled colleagues rode the crashing waves of the Asian markets during the mid-to late 1990s, culminating in a single deal the likes of which had never been seen before, or since.

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 will rock the financial community and redefine an era.

©2004 Ben Mezrich (P)2004 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Critic reviews

"In a truly engaging look at how an innocent who thinks he knows the world does actually end up understanding a small but significant piece of it, Mezrich manages to incorporate solid journalism into a narrative that just plain works." (Publishers Weekly)

Amazing AAA***

If you want to listen to true story about people making REAL money this is for you. It's my third time listening to it in 2 weeks.

Compelling Story About Love, Lust, and Money

Great story with an incredible ending. A great listen! It was fun to hear the author read his own story. Very entertaining. Definitely recommended.

***the techno music at the beginning of each chapter is obnoxious.***

monotone narration

while the story is fascinating and a bit disgusting all at the same time, I found the narration to be monotone and lifeless. The story would have been much better had the narrator been a little more lively and nuanced in their delivery.

Great writing style

The book had very exciting likeable characters and it was written in a style that sounded realistic.

Very interesting story if you are into finance and economics, or just plain suspense.

I recommend it. The only thing I don't like is the silly music that keeps coming up every section.

Really enjoyed all aspects of this audiobook.

The narrator (and writer) has a calm voice which is great, doesn’t arouse irritation and kept me focused on the story. The story was good, very descriptive and therefore i felt totally submerged into it. I like how things are kept realistic and not over the top. in this way, it’s more believable and thus more enjoyable. I’m going for the next book, preferably narrated by the writer again.

Good, but short-ish

Exciting tale of trading in the east, and the difference in eastern/ western financial culture.

Goes back and forth between the authors perspective and the protagonist.

Entertaining

This book reads like a movie. The pace is quick and interesting throughout. There are interesting insights about brokers and the type of lifestyle they lead -- or rather, would like to live.

Entertaining Fictional / Nonfictional Amalgam

This was quite enjoyable. As you listen to the book you get the distinct impression that most of the characters are actually fictionalized versions of real people.

But it is a great read about the wild world of gut check investing and alot more entertaining than some other similar books I have listened to.

Very entertaining

If you like Liar's Poker and other anecdotal accounts of high finance, you will enjoy this book. It is very entertaining, and not too complex; very interesting insights on Japanese culture, at least from an expat's perspective. I recommend it.

Great book with an entertaining reader!

This book was captivating. The plot was awesome and the story is almost unbelievable, I found myself really hoping that every bit of it was true. The reader was one of the best that I have heard and it wasn't too long of a book--I found myself wanting more in contrast to other 12-15 hour unabridged books that I have listened to. Really the only downside to this book was the fact that there was so much unneccessary swearing. The narrator would even swear sometimes, which kind of turned me off. I appreciated the cultural lessons that I learned and felt like it had the perfect combination of intellectual stimulation and relaxation. I highly recommend this book to anyone--but maybe not for to anyone's mother.