Casino Moscow : A Tale of Greed and Adventure on Capitalism's Wildest Frontier
Author: Matthew Brzezinski
List Price: $25.00
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ISBN: 0684869764
Publisher: Free Press (17 July, 2001)
Sales Rank: 64,087
Average Customer Rating: 3.46 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
Been there, done that, now back again
Casino Moscow, about post-Soviet Russian and Eastern Europe, is a surprising page turner. Having worked in Russia and other former Soviet Republics, I was walking back in time as I read the book. Brzezinki's accurate portrayal of the life an expat (from the initial shock upon arrival, to the slow immersion to local custom, all the way to going native) and the business customs and irregularities (finding business partners, traveling on local transport, needless and antiquated bureaucracy, the mafia and all of the ironies in between). I laughed at loud at times and other times was reminded how scary a place to live it was. I think the comparisons to Liar's Poker are apt. The story is griping, funny, and for many people I know, all too close to reality. Billions of dollars at play in an unregulated wild west arena. He has the oil fields, oil men, bankers, Chechens, Tartars, Radisson, Nightflight, dinner parties, expat haunts, trips to the provinces,....all of it down pat and eerily reminiscent of what I know to be true. Casino Moscow culminates with an interesting and credible (hailing from the WSJ) perspective on the final spurts of Russian economic "growth."
Rating: 2 out of 5
Russes Terribles
I think Mr. Zbignev Brzezinski - a former US National Security adviser under President Carter - would enjoy the book. This is because 'Casino Moscow' was written by his young nephew - Matthew Brzezinski. Plus it portraits Russians in the most unpleasant light - some people like that! Certainly, to his credit, Mr. Matthew Brzezinski has reached new heights in his creative Russia - bashing. The author has actually moved a full circle from his uncle's traditional Truman-like anti-communism to the age-old loathing of everything Russian by the Polish ultra-nationalist aristocracy from Marshal Pilsudski camp.
I am not sure if this loathing is unjustified, but the question I am asking is simple: is Mr. Matthew Brzezinski really the right person to represent US business community in Russia (as a WSJ correspondent), or may be he is a little biased to bridge Russian and American points of view? No wonder US investments in Russia are less than in Costa Rica.
Rating: 1 out of 5
Red Whine
I've never felt compelled to throw a book away. Until this one.
A reporter for a widely respected newspaper, dropped into '90s Moscow's whirling clash of cultures, should be able to come away with quite a collection of stories. And, to be fair, Brzezinski has some humorous stuff, and some interesting tales, but they're buried among too much personal detritus. There is far too much about the author, his family ties (enough already about "Uncle Zbig!") and his resentment of all things Russian. I've never read a book with such a smug (yet whiny) protagonist.
He didn't much like Russians (and had a big chip on his shoulder throughout the book), and he had little use for the expat community. With all his complaining, I wondered throughout this book why Brzezinski agreed to go to Russia, then why he stayed there, then why he bothered to write about it.
There's a good book somewhere in the Russia of the 1990s. This isn't it. Similar Products
Godfather of the Kremlin: The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism
The Oligarchs: Wealth & Power in the New Russia
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