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Moscow Madness
Book

Moscow Madness

Crime, Corruption, and One Man's Pursuit of Profit in the New Russia

Timothy Harper
McGraw-Hill, 1999

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Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Background
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Journalist Timothy Harper has written an absorbing, detailed business saga. This intimate account chronicles the wild and frustrating adventures of U.S. businessman Rick Grajirena, an import-export entrepreneur in Russia’s new free-market economy. "It was not difficult for Grajirena to find prospective partners and possible deals. Indeed, when it became known that he was an American looking to buy and sell in Russia, all sorts of characters - some seemingly reputable, many obviously not - came forward with one scheme after another." In the midst of this colorful cast of characters, Grajirena shines as one of the "good guys" as he jumps into and out of the beer biz and ends up in health foods. He runs into every form of Moscow madness, from the mafiya to some basic cultural divides, and manages to thrive as well as survive. getAbstract.com highly recommends this swashbuckling book. In fact, we can’t wait for the movie.

Take-Aways

  • Russia has no business tradition, so doing business there is a chaotic maze.
  • Violent gangs called mafiya - although unrelated to the Italian mafia - extorted money from Russian businesses through the mid-1990s. They patterned themselves after 1920s-style U.S. gangsters.
  • Former or current policemen run "security firms" that killed or jailed most mafiya gangsters and took over the protection racket.

About the Author

Timothy Harper  is a former Associated Press national writer and foreign correspondent. He is a member of the adjunct faculty at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, and contributing editor for Delta Sky magazine. He has written several books about doing business in Europe, serves as an editorial consultant and writing coach, and is a partner in an award-winning microbrewery, the Brooklyn Brewery.

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