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Binding: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: May 01, 2005
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com Review:
Ugly Americans documents the "Wild East" of the mid-1990s, where young, brilliant, and hypercompetitive traders became "hedge fund cowboys," manipulating loopholes in an outdated and inefficient Asian financial system to rake in millions. Using a concept called arbitrage, they made their fortunes mainly on minute shifts in stocks being sold on the Nikkei, the Japanese stock market, collapsing banks and nearly bankrupting the Japanese economy in the process. Other schemes were also concocted, most of which were technically legal, though certainly unethical. This true story revolves around "John Malcolm," who, in exchange for anonymity, agreed to give Ben Mezrich all the access and information he needed to write this book. As a recent Princeton graduate in the mid-1990s, Malcolm accepted an undefined job offer from an American expatriate in Japan to work in the investments field. Though he had no prior experience, he facilitated 25 million dollars worth of trades on his first day on the job, and it just got more exciting from there. He soon joined a small group of expatriates, all in their twenties and mostly Ivy League graduates, who lived like rock stars, thriving on the stress and excitement of their jobs to create their own steroid versions of the American Dream half a world away. Mezrich tells this riveting story well, incorporating elements of the culture into his narrative, including the infamous and pervasive Japanese "Water Trade," or sex business, romantic intrigue, and even run-ins with the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia. Though there is little real analysis of their financial dealings and how they ultimately changed the rules of finance in Asia, this entertaining page turner does offer a glimpse into a world little explored in print until now. --Shawn Carkonen
Product Description:
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.
UGLY AMERICANS is the true story of John Malcolm, a hungry young Princeton grad who traveled halfway around the world in search of the American dream and ultimately pulled off a trade that could, quite simply, be described as the biggest deal in the history of the financial markets.
After receiving a mysterious phone call promising him a shot at great fortune in an exotic land, Malcolm packed up his few belongings and took the chance of a lifetime. Without speaking a word of Japanese, with barely a penny in his pocket, Malcolm was thrown into the bizarre, adrenaline-fueled life of an expat 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 twenty-six-year-old rogue trader who lost nearly two billion dollars and brought down Barings Bank -- the oldest in England. Then he was the right-hand man to an enigmatic and brilliant hedge-fund cowboy named 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 the violent Japanese mobsters who helped turn the Asian markets into the turbulent casino it is today.
Malcolm and his twentysomething, Ivy League-schooled colleagues, with their warped sense of morality and proportion, created their own economic theory: Arbitrage with a Battle Axe. They 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.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
A disappointing follow up to "Bringing Down The House". Anticlimactic ending, but I suppose you cant blame the author for the ending to a true story. You can however blame him for thinking the story was worth writing in the first place.
Rating: -
I've worked in investment banking, specifically as a trader, for 14 years. I spent 9 of those years as an expat in Tokyo. And this book, in addition to not being very good, is at least 90% fabricated.
It disappoints on many levels.
1. The details are almost all wrong, and in many cases obviously made up or guessed.
e.g.: The Hanshin Earthquake did not hit Osaka as hard as the author describes, most of the damage was in Kobe, and it did not last "five minutes" but only about 20 seconds.
2. The author did not do enough research. His knowledge of Asia, finance, the Japanese sex trade, the yakuza, and even basic math is cursory at best, and in a few cases frighteningly ignorant.
e.g.: in an interview the protagonist is asked how many oranges are consumed in America in a year. his gutshot guess is 433 million...then he goes on to describe his analysis: a population of 250 million, if 80% of them start their day with a glass of juice and you need 3 oranges to make a glass...then his guess is plain stupid! based on his logic the answer should be more like 600 million EACH DAY, not 433 million in a whole year!
e.g.: he writes "simple equities such as stocks and bonds" Bonds are not equities.
e.g.: he writes "commodities such as the yen" the Yen is a currency, not a commodity.
3. The characters are shallow, cliched stereotypes. His protagonist has no character flaws whatsoever, and is "disgusted" by cheap and tawdry sex. Carney is a reptilian predator. Sayo is a delicate flower whose eyes moisten with every plot twist. All his charcaters have the depth of Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters!
4. The book is poorly edited throughout and poorly written. Chapter 22, his description of Hong Kong is three paragraphs which are basically just three copies of the same description worded differently.
Just terrible.
The most damning thing I can say is that this book reminded me very much of James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" which was one of the worst books I've ever read.
Dont waste your money.
Rating:  -
Very interesting description of a life few people would ever lead. Really quick read that kept you flipping the pages.
Rating:  -
Author Ben Mezrich gets most of these stars for the thrill ride he always writes. Ugly Americans is a blast of a page turner. Like many other reviewers here, I come from finance and international business. But unlike other reviewers, I must confess I find it refreshing that Mezrich does not try to explain every character and every transaction beyond his own knowledge.
The Author is masterful at creating a feeling, a mental picture, and most of all conveying style. It's a fast and captivating method of taking you with him.
I have noticed that some of the reviewers who claim to be exptert on the subject matter seem to think that the principal transaction of the subject character's time in Asia took place in Japan, instead of Hong Kong. Curious. I recommend not reviewing the book unless you read it first!
Rating: -
I didn't get this book to learn the details of stocks, hedge funds, or derivatives trading in Japan. I was looking to be entertained and the Audible version of this book, albeit abridged, really made this story come alive. I have far too many "books on tape" on my iPod and can safely say this is one of my all time faves. Perhaps it helps that I spent time in Japan (in the music industry) during this time period so I could easily follow the ins and outs of the plot but for those who have dissed the book, I can't imagine what they were looking for in this read. At the end of the day, a very entertaining listen which is why I am back to buy the unabridged version, in hard copy no less....
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