7. The Lawless Roads by Graham Greene

From what I gather, in the late 1930s the Mexican government attempted to rid the country of Catholicism by closing the churches, burning many of them to their foundations, killing some priests and exiling others, and taking strong steps to rid the country of an influential religion. Also, from what I gather, Graham Greene came to Mexico to report on this pogrom.

Graham Greene is a famously Catholic author who, some say, has been denied a Nobel prize due to his religion. It is not surprising therefore that this book is a thinly veiled condemnation of Mexico in support of Catholicism. He hates all things Mexican. He begins by criticizing the food and its monotonous sameness; goes on to criticize what little value Mexican's place on life; how hateful they are; and ultimately leads the reader to conclude that Mexicans are nothing less than the basest form of intelligent life. All the while, he venrates religion, in particular, Catholicism.

While this arrogant exposition is tasteless and irritating, the narrative describing the Mexican countryside, the unrelenting Summer sun, and the sweaty tropical climate is excellent. It really makes you glad you aren't there.

I love Graham Greene's novels, but the pettiness of this autobiographical work leaves a lot to be desired.

6. Kim by Rudyard Kipling

This book has been gathering dust on my on deck shelf ever since it was reviewed by my fine friend writing on the Mount Benson blog. The book is ostensibly about the life of Kim, the orphaned son of an Irish soldier who rises from complete poverty to become a promising young spy in support of Britain's efforts to thwart the Russians. In telling this story, Kipling also provides a colorful and well written description of the different religions, people, and cultures that combine to make India.

For those of you who are interested in colonial history or the Great Game, this book will be very interesting.

5. Acheson: The Secretary of State Who Created the American World by James Chance

Dean Acheson was born in 1893 and died in 1971, this book, however, pays little attention to his life other than between about 1939 and 1953 when he served either as the Secretary of State (1949 to 1953) or as a member of the Secretary of State's staff. Acheson served President Roosevelt for a few years until he died and then served President Truman. He was an exceptional man presiding over foreign policy in an exceptional time. During his tenure he contributed to the development of the U.S. policy towards the Soviet Union, the Marshall Plan, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Bay of Pigs, the formation of NATO, and the development of post-war Western Europe. Not bad for a little more than a decade in government! Whether you like the outcome or not, Acheson was responsible for the world in which we all grew up.

This was a fascinating book covering a period that I don't know a lot about. A few things struck me as I read: first, the caliber of people that served in the government at that time is much greater than the caliber of people who are serving today. Hilary Clinton is no Dean Acheson. Second, people in the 50s were so flowery in their language and vocabulary. Third, after World War II it is clear that the US did not really have a great idea about what it was doing, what its foreign policies should be, and how it should go about implementing them. It seems that the US was just as close to trying to befriend Stalin's Soviet Union as it was to trying to take a forceful stand and the decision to be forceful seemed quite accidental.

I would highly recommend this book.

4. The Hunter by Richard Stark

This is a novel about the 'relentless and remorseless' Parker who, having been double crossed on a big job and spending seven months in prison, escapes and comes to New York looking for vengeance (Mount Benson has reviewed the graphic novel adaptation). It has a Rambo II quality about it in the sense that Parker comes back, takes on the NY mob, and just starts kicking ass much like Rambo came back to kill the officials who had forsaken him. Perhaps one should say that Rambo II has a The Hunter quality about it. Parker's dry, take no prisoners approach is awesome and entertaining and the final twist is surprising and well worth the read.

Awesome!

3. The Falls by Ian Rankin

Some of my readers read Rankin novels so I will do my best to avoid any spoilers. This is an DI Reebus novel about a missing persons/murder case happening in and around Edinburgh. Flip or Philippa, the daughter of a patrician banking family who is studying at university, goes missing and Rankin tells the story of the case. What is striking about the story is how much darker Reebus has gotten since I first began reading this series. He has moved from a tragic loner character who enjoys a drink to a near alcoholic who is on the verge of giving everything up, repeatedly thinking about suicide, drinking at 10 in the morning, etc. What is impressive is how Rankin weaves this story line in the narrative but doesn't let it eclipse the core of the book.

This is an excellent book, highly recommended.

2. The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Mark Rich by Daniel Ammann

This book is a biography of Mark Rich from his early days when he fled Belgium days before the advancing German armies. Mark Rich's father sold all their belongings for a used car, they drove to France, fled by boat to Morocco, obtained a US visa, and moved to the United States. The family lived all over the US, in fact Marc Rich did not go to the same school for more than a year.

Marc took his first job at Phillips Brothers, a small commodities trading house. He started in the mail room, then moved to the traffic or logistics department, and ultimately ended up running the company's Madrid office. Rich was an innovative guy and he was always looking to set up new commodity markets. In the 1960s the world trade of oil was dominated by the large oil companies, known as the seven sisters (BP, Shell, Chevron, Texaco, Exxon, Gulf, and AMACO), who dictated prices to the oil producing countries. The power in the relationship was squarely with the oil companies so much so that the price of oil hadn't really budged in more than 30 years.

Rich saw that this situation was not to the advantage of the producers and he struck independent relationships with the producing countries. Typically he would agree to purchase their oil at above market rates for a long period of time and he would then look for buyers for the oil. As oil prices increased he made more money. His main trading partners were countries like Iran, Nigeria, Cuba, and South Africa. After setting up these relationships he left Phillips Brothers and formed his own company based in Switzerland.

In this relatively simple way he created the spot market for oil which is the way oil is traded today and slowly took the seven sisters out of the picture. In the early 1970s he did some fairly aggressive but not illegal transactions in the United States that ultimately caught the attention of a young Rudolph Giuliani. Rudy went to town on Rich, accusing him of all sorts of things and looking to prosecute him criminally as opposed to in civil court which would have been normal for tax related transactions.

Giuliani was a pit bull, he painted Rich as a criminal and an uncritical press lapped it up. Then, in the late 1970s, it came out that Rich was trading with Iran during the hostage crisis. So, Giuliani added a trading with the Enemy charge to Rich's indictment and sought to prosecute Rich using RICO (racketeering) laws. Using RICO was the prosecutorial equivalent of using a nuclear bomb.

Giuliani and his successors continued to press their case for years even though Rich lived in Switzerland and what he had done, particularly trading with Iran, Cuba, and South Africa, was completely legal under Swiss laws. In effect, they were trying to prosecute Rich by applying US laws to a Swiss person (Rich had relinquished his US citizenship long ago). Rich was by no means a good guy - he supplied oil to racists and killers and he didn't have an issue with that - but what Giuliani and his cronies did to him was beyond the pale. Because of their case, he was not able to come to the US for the funeral of his father or for the funeral of his 26 year old daughter.

Up till the mid-1990s, even with this case hanging over him, Rich's company prospered. After leaving Phillips he grew his company to become the largest commodities trading house in the world. In 1996 he sold his company to his partners and exited the business to focus on his charities. A little earlier, in 1991, he triumphed over Giuliani when Bill Clinton pardoned him on the night before he left office.

Today, Rich's trading house is known as Glencore and remains the largest commodities trading firm in the world. Glencore is planning an IPO in a few months and will be selling 20% of the company for a paltry $14 billion!

The book is generally well written and it is hard to go wrong with a story like Rich's. What I found very annoying about the writing was the author's incessant insecure need to point out to the reader whenever he was about to write about some previously undisclosed matter.

1. Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin

This is the story of the near market collapse between March 2008 when Bear Stearns was purchased by J.P. Morgan and December 2008 a little after the TARP bailout legislation was enacted. Andrew Ross Sorkin, who is a good New York Times business reporter, tells the story from the perspectives of the bank executives, the leadership at the Treasury, and the heads of the Federal Reserve and the New York Federal Reserve.

If you are in search of an analysis of the causes of the market collapse you will not find it in this book, instead what you will find is a fascinating account of how the bank executives struggled to save their companies and to save their system; how the Treasury and Federal Reserve muddled their way to trying to solve the problem; and how shockingly in denial some of these people were.

The account of the events is pretty objective, it does not make the bank executives into heroes who saved the system rather portrays them as people some of whom were greedy reprehensible jerks while others were decent hard working people. It generally holds the right people accountable, though it could have been harder on a few of the characters involved.

At over 500 pages it is a complete account of the core part of the near system collapse, I would recommend it.

Risen

It has been almost two years since I last posted, that's what a butt load of work and two kids does to you. 2009 was a write off from a reading perspetive, I didn't read a lot and what little I read was absurdly bad. 2010 was a little better, I read about 25 books, some junk and some gems. I was never on it enough to post my reviews though. Motivated by Olman's 73 books (nice job), Meezly's high quality reviews, Mount Benson's steady output, and, most importantly, by the fact that I have finished two books already, I am banking on a good year! Posts will be coming soon, it's good to be back. Happy new year.