Ugly Americans

This is not about: the Bush administration, torture, detention, obesity, Michael Moore or Hollywood plastic surgeons.

Instead Renaissance Chambara has decided to go all Oprah and bring you our book of the moment Ugly Americans by Ben Mezrich. Ben previously wrote Bringing Down the House, a book about a group of maths geeks who take on the Las Vegas casinos by team playing with a gambling system and making a killing at poker.

In Ugly Americans, Ben turns his attention to hedge funds exploiting the economic collapse of Japan in the 1990s. There are many similarities with the books:

- they both are written in the same style, paced with film in mind
- they both alternate chapters of action with 'expert testimony
- they both claim to be true, however I have my doubts (names have been changed to protect the innocent et cetera)
- both are a ripping read regardless