Ugly Americans: the title - calls out to anti-heroes and capitalists, and gives a fair hint at what to expect inside. American expats portrayed as cowboy-empire builders but in our own times and in the unique culture of Japan. Modern day Japan itself is described as a heady mix of old and new where instead of clashing the two are complementing each other. Crime and business, lust and family, American and gaijin, rainmaker and barbarian.... Even the image on the cover shows these cowboys in bespoke suits but wearing frontier boots. You can almost picture them wearing shades to enhance their poker faces!

In this backdrop John Malcolm places the second big bet of his life after losing his first on football. And our proto would have been happy with a 9-5 job had his mentor not fuelled his ambitions with an equal dose of adventure for good measure. Along the way there is the Yakuza crime syndicate, the business of lust, rogue traders, a crime-boss's sexy daughter and really fast bikes.

Ben Mezrich writes in his own simple style - one that speeds up the story and is best suited for fast-paced and alpha-male adventures. Just like Rigged, this book is based on a real man but in this case his identity is not disclosed. This is not a work of literature, rather a book of action that makes you viualise the story in your head like a comic book.

Ugly Americans Reviewed @ FactBehindFiction.com

Excellent excellent

I have a few of Ben mezrich books and love the complex stories. This one blew my mind. Strong recommend.

Ugly Americans by Ben Mezrich is a thrilling story about young Ivy League graduates who made millions trading in Asia during the 1990s. The book follows John Malcolm, a recent college graduate, who becomes involved in Japan's intense world of hedge fund trading. The story is filled with big risks, crazy deals, and the clash between American and Japanese cultures. Mezrich creates an action-packed world of finance with twists and high-stakes drama, keeping readers hooked. The characters are larger than life, from tough American bosses to local Japanese players with unique styles. The book shows both the glamorous and shady sides of making money, allowing readers to feel the tension and excitement of their deals. Ugly Americans is a fun and eye-opening read that explores how people act when there's a chance to make a lot of money.

This book is a cross between a fish out of water story and hedge fund traders behaving badly. I enjoyed this quick, entertaining read... no fluff, all action.

Not to mess with Yakuza in the street, in the board room, or on the trading floor. But if I find myself in highschool in Tokyo, and someone happens to give me a high performance four cylinder vehicle, than I should proceed to date an adopted daughter of a Yakuza leader, and drift even when I am trying to escape.

Ben Mezrich takes Capote-esque non fiction story telling to a fault. Our spotless, principled Galahad of this tale is John Malcolm, a shining beacon in a corrupt world. Entirely selfless, Malcolm saves his friends, all the ex-pats, his girlfriend... and on the way, he saves himself.

1.5 starz, relatively terrible

The Ugly Americans is the story of John Malcolm, an Ivy League graduate who, when a football career does not pan out, decides to work in the finance industry. He begins his career as a Kidder Peabody trader working out of their Osaka, Japan office, but through an accounting glitch, which is not all his fault, he loses the job. After this point, however, he begins making deals in the stock market that define his career and earn him the moniker of the "young American gunslinger".
I really enjoyed this book because it was sort of an unconventional adventure. I say unconventional because it does not really involve any sort of gunfight, or explosive car chase. Malcolm's adventure comes from the suspense that comes every deal that may make or break his career. It is interesting to think that one person could make the money that he did and the fact that he did inspires me to do the same.
I would reccomend this book to anyone who enjoyed the film 21 or the Ugly Billionaires. Both of the following titles are by this books author, Ben Mezrich.

I read Mezrich’s other novel two years ago (Bringing Down the House) – a “nonfiction” account of Ivy League Whizkids who’d developed a method for winning millions from Vegas by counting cards. Consider Ugly Americans that book’s sequel on speed. Instead of casinos, we have Ivy League Whizkids gaming the Asian markets to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars of profit for a profiteering hedge fund. This somewhat fictionalized account of true events follows John Malcolm (pseudonym), a Princeton alum in Japan, and other American financial expats and the intersection of the Japanese finance industry, the Japanese sex industry, and the Yakuza. The book does a good job of explaining basic market concepts (short-selling, arbitrage, derivatives, etc) in ways that help you better understand how money was being made. While the book is a quick airplane trip read, the writing is atrocious – the prose sounds like writer’s workshop mimicry of John Grisham. The book’s other fault is that it tries to take itself too seriously. The author tries to present the account as an expose on the shady side of American business overseas and the complete lack of morals in the face of money to be made. But the dozens upon dozens of pages spent describing the shining Ferraris, speedy Ducati motorcycles, expensive parties, and high-end escorts paid for by this blood money tend to celebrate the behavior rather than condemn it. This book is less an expose and more a glorification of the American financial cowboy the book sets out to tear down. Ultimately, an entertaining but empty reading experience.

Good story, an entertaining easy read.

This is a typical Ben Mezrich book exploring the underside of the financial industry from different sordid stories. This one is focused on the Asian markets and some of the American traders that get involved. The interesting part is the cultural dynamics in place in Tokyo and Osaka. The impact of Japanese organized crime on the business workings adds another wrinkle. A bit moralistic towards the end, but a good read.

Full of dark jokes and funny stories. I found amazingly similar to my experience as a financial trader in South East Asia. Thanks Ben Mezrich, you're up there with Michael Lewis and Anne Jacobsen.

Fun "pop" financial read and an interesting story to follow. It lost a bit of its luster due to (1) using fake character names...which left a bit of doubt in my mind about the legitimacy of the story and (2) the ambiguous connection to the yakuza that was used to tie out the end of the book