The King Of Oil

International oil trader and notorious businessman Marc Rich has been the subject of much media attention, but no one has captured the life and times of the oil baron as minutely as Daniel Ammann does in his biography The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich. The biography takes a closer look at Richs childhood, and charts his flight to America under threat of religious persecution, and his then meteoric rise as the most well known and powerful oil commodities trader in the country. The book also deals with Richs well publicized run-ins with the law, and the not so well known dealings with politicians like Irans Ayatollah Khomeini, and Cubas Fidel Castro. Rich was the inventor of the spot oil market, which changed the way the world traded in oil commodities, and he has been involved in trade with countries like South Africa, during the times of the Apartheid, and Angola, when it was ravaged by war. New Yorks Mayor Rudy Giuliani had Rich indicted for tax fraud, but he was famously pardoned by then President Bill Clinton, only to be on the wrong side of the law again during Attorney General Eric Holders confirmation hearings. Apart from these media documented parts of richs life, Ammanns biography of the man also dwells on more personal issues like Richs experiences during the Holocaust, and his divorce with his wife, Denise. >The King Of OilDaniel AmmannSt. Martin's Press9780312650681