Ben Mezrich

Rigged Ben Mezrich

From the author who brought you the massive New York Times bestseller Bringing Down the House, this is the startling rags-to-riches story of an Italian-American kid from the streets of Brooklyn who claws his way into the wild, frenetic world of the oil exchange. After conquering the hallowed halls of Harvard Business School, he enters the testosterone-laced warrens of the Merc Exchange, the asylum-like oil exchange located in lower Manhattan. A place where billions of dollars trade hands every week, the Merc is like a casino on crack, where former garbagemen become millionaires overnight and where fistfights break out on the trading floor. The ordinary kid has traded Brooklyn for the goldlined hotel palaces of Dubai. He keeps company on the decks of private yachts in Monte Carlo -- teeming with half-naked girls flown in by Saudi sheiks -- and makes deals in the dangerous back alleys of Beijing. But the Merc is just a starting place. Taken under the wing of another young gun and partnering with a mysterious young Muslim, the kid embarks on a dangerous adventure to revolutionize the oil trading industry -- and along with it, the world. Rigged is the explicit, exclusive, true story behind the headlines that dominate the world stage. Ben Mezrich has published nine books, including the New York Times bestseller Bringing Down the House (set to be a Sony picture in March 2008 starring Kevin Spacey). He is a columnist for Stuff Magazine Boston Common, and a contributor for Flush magazine (U. K. ). He lives in Boston, Massachusetts. www. benmezrich. com