Please welcome ben mezrich. Hello everybody, thank you for coming out on a friday night. Its getting getting a little chilly but its still nice out and i appreciate everyone coming on a friday night. I will get to once upon a time in russia in just a few minutes but i know whenever i go see a band i always hate it when they never play the hits. I want to do a little bit of the hits first and how i got to the story. I never set out to be a nonfiction writer or a journalist. As a kid i always hated nonfiction and i didnt read much of it. I was obsessed with television and bad tv like say by the bell m3s company and all of that crap. My parents, fearing the worst, made a rule at home that we had to read two books a week before we were allowed to watch tv. So at a very young age i became a speed reader so i could watch tv. I watched everything. By the time i graduated from college i knew i wanted to be a writer. I wrote and i wrote and i wrote nine novels in a year. I dont recommend that f
Others. But you are doing a great job sitting here tonight. On that note, thank you for taking the time to come out tonight. [applause] would you be willing to stay and sign some books . We would be happy to sign. Thank you very much. Ben has written the most exciting stories of our times. From the founding of facebook to grow and mit card counting his books have taken the reader to different heights of wealth and power once upon a time in russia time in russia this is most extraordinary story yet the fall of the soviet Union Created immense financial opportunity in russia and the billionaire oligarchs that seized the opportunity changed the history. With corruption, cash cases in the car and car bombs, once upon a time in russia reads like a fastpaced fictional thriller but it is all the more impressive and important because its true. Ben mezrich is the number one best times selling author of 16 books including bringing down the house which was turned into the movie 21 in the accident
Revenue of 1 million per day. In the eventual scrutiny received from the department of justice which shut it down in 2011. This program is about 40 minutes. Good afternoon, thank you all for joining us and thank you all watching on booktv on cspan2, you are joining billions around the world. When they asked me to come here and interview ben mezrich had jumped at the chance. He is one of my favorite people in the literary world. A lot of you know the film based on his books as well as his books, the accidental billionaires became the social network, bringing down the house became 21 and you title the book sex on the moon because you knew they would never change that title for a film. The book we are talking about who dealt their way to a billiondollar online poker empireand how it all came crashing down. About how a few Enterprising Program players created an empire sort of. I want to begin by drawing your attention to for my many the greatest author jacket photo since hemingway, right
Good afternoon. Thank you, all, for joining us, and thank you all watching on booktv on cspan, you teaming throngs of billions around the world. When they asked me to come here and interview ben mezrich, i jumped at the chance. Hes one of my favorites in the literary world. You know the films based on his book, as well as his book, disattal billionaire, the social network, bringing down the house became 21, and you titled the book sex on the moon because you knew they wouldnt change the title for the film. The newest is straight flush, how poker players created an empire, sort of, and i want to begin by just drawing your attention to from my money, the greatest author, jacket photo since hemmingway of ben right here. You look like someone that for the moment anyway, im excited john is doing this with me, and we hosted a Television Show once, which i dont think any of you watch, thats called the world series of blackjack, and it was on gsn, and he was the host, and i was the blackjack e
This hour. For five years he was a captive. At this hour, he is a client. He has lawyered up Bergdahl Eugene fie dell is a military justice expert. He didnt talk much about his clients situation, but cnn did ask why bergdahl is back on active duty just six weeks after he was freed. Obviously the army has concluded that he is fit for duty. I dont anticipate that they are going to deploy him anywhere. You know, theres some business that has to be conducted. Chiefly this investigation. And if the army thinks that he was ready to wrap up the reintegration process and move into a regular duty status, the army is a better judge of that than i am. Were joined by our military analyst, retired colonel rick francona. What does it say to you that Sergeant Bergdahl is retaining counsel at this point and what will the job of this attorney be . What is the most important thing for him to do right now . General dahl is the one asked of doing this investigation. Since the general probably believes tha