Once Upon a Time in Russia: The Rise of the Oligarchs and the Greatest Wealth in History

Ben Mezrich

ISBN 10: 0434023418 / ISBN 13: 9780434023417

Published by Random House Publishers Uk, 2015

About this Item

Seller Inventory # E-9780434023417-2-2

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Once Upon a Time in Russia: The Rise of the Oligarchs and the Greatest Wealth in History
• Publisher: Random House Publishers Uk
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0434023418
• ISBN 13: 9780434023417
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Very good

About this title

Synopsis

A gripping and shocking insight into the lives of Russia’s most famous oligarchs from New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires and Bringing Down the House.





Once Upon a Time in Russia is the untold true story of the larger-than-life billionaire oligarchs who surfed the waves of privatization to reap riches after the fall of the Soviet regime: “Godfather of the Kremlin” Boris Berezovsky, a former mathematician whose first entrepreneurial venture was running an automobile reselling business, and Roman Abramovich, his dashing young protégé who built a multi-billion-dollar empire of oil and aluminium. Locked in a complex, uniquely Russian partnership, Berezovsky and Abramovich battled their way through the “Wild East” of Russia with Berezovsky acting as the younger man’s krysha- literally, his roof, his protector.





Written with the heart-stopping pacing of a thriller -but even more compelling because it is true - this story of amassing obscene wealth and power depicts a rarefied world seldom seen up close. Under Berezovsky’s krysha, Abramovich built one of Russia’s largest oil companies from the ground up and in exchange made cash deliveries - including 491 million dollars in just one year. But their relationship frayed when Berezovsky attacked President Vladimir Putin in the media - and had to flee to the UK. Abramovich continued to prosper.





Dead bodies trailed Berezovsky’s footsteps, and threats followed him to London, where an associate of his died painfully and famously of Polonium poisoning. Then Berezovsky himself was later found dead, declared a suicide.





Exclusively sourced, capturing a momentous period in recent world history, Once Upon a Time in Russia is at once personal and political, offering an unprecedented look into the wealth, corruption, and power behind what Graydon Carter called ‘the story of our age’.

About the Author

Ben Mezrich graduated magna cum laude from Harvard. He has published seventeen books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Accidental Billionaires, which was adapted into the Academy Award–winning film The Social Network, and Bringing Down the House, which has sold more than 1.5 million copies in twelve languages and was the basis for the hit movie 21. He lives in Boston.