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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 355 EAN: 9780470261965 ISBN: 047026196X Label: Wiley Manufacturer: Wiley Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 320 Publication Date: April 14, 2008 Publisher: Wiley Studio: Wiley Editorial Review: Product Description: Praise for Merchant of Death "A riveting investigation of the world's most notorious arms dealer--a page-turner that digs deep into the amazing, murky story of Viktor Bout. Farah and Braun have exposed the inner workings of one of the world's most secretive businesses--the international arms trade." —Peter L. Bergen, author of The Osama bin Laden I Know "Viktor Bout is like Osama bin Laden: a major target of U.S. intelligence officials who time and again gets away. Farah and Braun have skillfully documented how this notorious arms dealer has stoked violence around the world and thwarted international sanctions. Even more appalling, they show how Bout ended up getting millions of dollars in U.S. government money to assist the war in Iraq. A truly impressive piece of investigative reporting." —Michael Isikoff, coauthor of Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War "Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun are two of the toughest investigative reporters in the country. This is an important book about a hidden world of gunrunning and profiteering in some of the world's poorest countries." —Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 "In Merchant of Death, two of America's finest reporters have performed a major public service, turning over the right rocks that reveal the brutal international arms business at the dawn of the twenty-first century. In Viktor Bout, they have given us a new Lord of War, a man who knows no side but his own, and who has a knack for turning up in every war zone just in time to turn a profit. As Farah and Braun uncover and document his troubling role in the Bush Administration's Global War on Terror, his ties to Washington almost seem inevitable." —James Risen, author of State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration "An extraordinary and timely piece of investigative reporting, Merchant of Death is also a vividly compelling read. The true story of Viktor Bout, a sociopathic Russian gunrunner who has supplied weapons for use in some of the most gruesome conflicts of modern times--and who can count amongst his clients both the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the U.S. military in Iraq--is a stomach-churning indictment of the policy failures and moral contradictions of the world's most powerful governments, including that of the United States." —Jon Lee Anderson, author of The Fall of Baghdad Two respected journalists tell the incredible story of Viktor Bout, the Russian weapons supplier whose global network has changed the way modern warfare is fought. Bout’s vast enterprise of guns, planes, and money has fueled internecine slaughter in Africa and aided both militant Islamic fanatics in Afghanistan and the American military in Iraq. This book combines spy thrills with crucial insights on the shortcomings of a U.S. foreign policy that fails to confront the lucrative and lethal arms trade that erodes global security. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Dry, maybe... but very informative and essential knowledgeThis book on Bout is basically a case study on what global crime has evolved into today. Drug cartels, traffickers, counterfeiters, terrorists and basically every illicit business uses a organizational structure such as is described in this book. It is quite terrifying what they can do and how they use globalization against us. I just read a book about how this fits into the big picture (Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy by Moises Naim). I would definitely ... Read More Rating:  - Merchant of Death Doesn't DeliverI am reading "Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible," will finish it shortly and have no intention of putting it down. That said, I still don't know why it was one of The Washington Post's top book picks of the year. Despite the title, which to me at least promised a more or less exiting and seamless story, what you get can better be described as "raw intel." It is essentially a synopsis and compilation of data the author has assembled on the book's subject. ... Read More Rating:  - Gun Running for Fun and Profit.This well-written book was delivered on time and in good condition. My review title is light-hearted, the subject of the book is not. This is an inside look at the rise of Victor Bout, a former Soviet Air Force officer, as the superstar of modern gun running. The details of how he did it, and how the US and other nations and NGOs tracked and treated his organization, are all in the book. This is an eye-opener for the common citizen on one of todays most pressing transnational threats. >Sam Rating:  - Falls ShortI picked up this book thinking that I would enjoy it, but was disappointed in less than 20 pages. I pressed on past 100 pages only to find myself going crazy from the disjoined timeline. Long story short: They think blaming a single man (no matter how vile he is) for the woes of an entire continent is easier than blaming disjointed societies for tribal conflicts that are thousands of years old. The dilution that this one person is somehow changing the world for the worse lends itself to the dilution ... Read More Rating:  - InterestingInteresting book, however very repetitive. Also jumps back and forth along the time line. Book is nothing more then testimonials from people who were employed or had contact with Victor Bout the arms dealer. However his rise to power is truly amazing. |
