Last week I was sent a copy of The Oligarchs by Claes Ericson to review. Thanks Claes!
I’ve only had a brief skim through up to now due to time constraints, but it looks to be a damn good book, and I’ve definitely be putting it on my Kindle and giving it some attention very very soon.
If you have ever wondered how the current crop of Russian oligarchs managed to go from living in cramped Soviet one room apartments to owning billions of dollars, yachts, mansions and football clubs then this book is for you.
I particularly liked the chapters on the early 90′s state privatization, in which the entire country was first given vouchers, and then told by their bosses that if they wanted to keep their jobs they should just hand over these “worthless” vouchers.
Russia’s entire industrial economy was, in effect, virtually given away to a select few in the name of “privatization”.
The Oligarchs is full of remarkable observations and statistics about the tremendous pace of change in Russia over the past two decades, and I can definitely recommend it.
