The Price of Experience: Power, Money, Image, and Murder in Los Angeles [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Randall Sullivan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1996

A founder of the exclusive Billionaire Boys Club, Joe Hunt controlled $100 million in assets, as well as the club's members--whose devotion was no less than cultish. But when the deals began to sour, Hunt's extreme reactions led to kidnapping--and murder. A story of greed and moral nihilism that perfectly illuminates the 1980s.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As much a cultural history of L.A. in the 1980s as a true-crime account, freelance journalist Sullivan's study of the so-called Billionaire Boys Club and its sociopathic leader, Joe Hunt, offers a remarkable array of elaborate deceptions and double crosses, all bound together in a gripping narrative. Hunt was a magnetic figure whose unruffled assurance and flamboyant techniques as a young commodities trader drew to him a circle of loyal disciples and eager investors. Forming a corporation, the BBC, with a group of extremely well-connected but shiftless men, Hunt gathered millions in investment capital, money that he embezzled and lost in reckless trading while deceiving his investors. As conspicuous consumption and poor business decisions further unraveled the BBC, Hunt resorted to increasingly violent criminal tactics. Eventually, pursued by law enforcement agencies as a suspect in cases ranging from murder to kidnapping to violating SEC codes, Hunt was convicted of murder in 1987. He initiated an appeal process that continues to this day. Sullivan does a superlative job of bringing together an elaborate chain of events, offering considerable insight not just into Hunt but into an entire cast of disturbed and disturbing characters.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This is an epic account of the Billionaire Boys Club case, in which Joe Hunt organized a cadre of former classmates and other gifted young men for the purpose of turning large profits in financial markets. Hunt was charisma incarnate, capable of selling his schemes to naive investors and his ideas (in the form of his amoral Paradox philosophy) to ingenuous followers. He played fast and loose with other people's money, lost much of it, turned to increasingly more desperate measures, got deeper in debt, and ultimately participated in at least two murders in an effort to save himself. This chronicle follows Hunt's story from his days at the prestigious Harvard School in California to his meteoric rise in investment circles and in Los Angeles high society. Sullivan's book tracks Hunt's history with Dreiserian specificity, piling up the details to present a picture of startling clarity and brilliance. This is a true-crime book that truly transcends the genre and is essential for all general collections.
--Ben Harrison, East Orange P.L., N.J.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 705 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr; 1st edition (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871135124
• ASIN: B000VZ1FRG
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,175,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic, July 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Price of Experience: Power, Money, Image, and Murder in Los Angeles (Hardcover)

This is one of the great overlooked books of the 90's. It was overlooked, I believe, because of its length and the timing of its release: over a decade after its subjects, Joe Hunt and the Billionaire Boys Club, were in the media spotlight. What a shame because it a flat out masterpiece. As far as true crime books go this is a landmark and the top of the heap. Not only is it incredibly researched and hard to put down, but it is an amazing cultural history of Los Angeles and its reflection of America during the Reagan era. Out of the hundreds of books I have read concerning Los Angeles and American society and culture in general, none depicts so well out obsession with power, money, and image as Sullivan's book does. A hundred years from now I hope it will be read in American Studies, History, and English classes in universities along with such thematically similar books as The Great Gatsby, Sister Carrie, Davis' City of Quartz, Ellroy's LA Quartet and such films as The Godfather, Goodfellas, Chinatown, Mean Streets, LA Confidential, and American Beauty. Let's hope it stays in print. Read this classic.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply put, the best work of non-ficition I have EVER read!!, September 15, 2001

By 

Ramon Gonzalez (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Price of Experience: Power, Money, Image, and Murder in Los Angeles (Hardcover)

An absolute masterpiece. Unbelievably researched and beautifully written. It's a shame this book never caught the public eye, obviously because the BBC was such a dated subject at the time of publication. There is not a single tome in my entire collection that has brought me as much pleasure and insight. Far more than a mere true crime book, this epic is a stunning cultural history of Los Angeles. In fact, stating that "The Price of Experience" is merely a true crime book is like saying THE GODFATHER is merely a gangster film. Almost everyone I know that has read it agrees it is the finest non-fiction book ever written.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely fascinating account, May 4, 2000

By 

R. Mullins - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Price of Experience: Power, Money, Image, and Murder in Los Angeles (Hardcover)

This was one of the most engrossing books I've ever read. The story of a brilliant, highly principalled, amoral, ambitous, and effective person.

The story of how he acted as his own lawyer and got himself off of murder was utterly fascinating.

The story of someone who you could imagine could do anything he set his mind to. Absolutely anything.

He is really a fascinating character, and if you think about success or ambition, I am sure you will find this a facinating tale.