| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Perhaps unfair, but scrupulously researched,
This review is from: RATS IN THE GRAIN: THE DIRTY TRICKS AND TRIALS OF ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND (Hardcover)
Like everyone else, I was only vaguely aware of ADM before I read this book. I won't forget ADM soon, though. All the dirty tricks you hear about seem to have been concentrated in one company: everything from antitrust violations to bribery and intimidation. Short of treason, it's hard to think of a crime ADM didn't commit.James Lieber has done a tremendous amount of research, and it shows. Even when no first-hand sources are available, he is often able to reconstruct a conversation or meeting, and he is very fair about drawing a clear line between facts and suppositions. My only complaint is that he can get a little carried away in his criticism, blaming ADM for practices common to many American corporations (e.g. political contributions, influence peddling, media spin). However, this is a minor flaw in an otherwise outstanding book. Buy it and read it.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ADM, ... enterprise, punishes whistleblower,
By "nemodat1" (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rats in the Grain: The Dirty Tricks and Trials of Archer Daniels Midland, the Supermarket to the World (Paperback)
Attorney Lieber deserves high praise for his objective, informative presentation of the antitrust criminal case vs. Archer Daniels Midland, the agribusiness giant, that ADM, its powerful lawyers and Clinton's Justice Department did not want published. To his credit, he continued to pursue this case after most reporters backed off and swallowed the dizzying spin and disinformation that ADM's CEO Dwayne Andreas and his aggressive lawyers gave the media, crying crocodile tears as the "victim" of an allegedly deranged ADM executive, Mark Whitacre, who became the FBI's mole, and made hundreds of tapes incriminating ADM executives fixing prices in world markets with their competitors. Lieber correctly smelled the stench of a cover-up and adroitly guides readers to make their own conclusions after compiling evidence, omissions from court records, and other factors that allow readers to infer that the judicial process was compromised by ADM's widespread political influence before the trial even began. Although Dwayne Andreas, the infamous political fixer and king of corporate welfare, got immunity in a highly secretive plea bargain to Justice in 1996, after ADM agreed to pay a record fine of $100 million, his son Michael was convicted and imprisoned with Terry Wilson for a mere 3 years, and Dwayne (thanks to outraged and courageous ADM shareholders) finally resigned. Tragically, Whitacre was convicted, fined and sentenced to a harsh term of 9 years because of ADM's swift retaliation against him as whistleblower, for exposing to the FBI the ... corporate culture of ADM...(anything goes-but don't get caught-and here's your big bonus (not reported on books)to keep silent, the unspoken words being that an employee would be fired and crucified if they blew the whistle. Lieber's chilling comment (p. 322)should concern every citizen or future whistleblower who believes in due process and our rule of law: "It was expected that ADM's attorneys would savage the snitch. What was highly bizarre in the world of criminal law was the way the Justice Department joined in the frenzy to destroy Whitacre. This was an aberration...the perpetrator was a politically wired corporation whose law firm- the president's law firm- had unbridled entree and influence at Justice. The mole's lawyer had none." Lieber makes a strong case that this American corporate history- "one of the most important antitrust cases of the century"- should be closely examined. Rightly so. Why was the court record sealed, why were key witnesses (e.g., Wayne Brasser) not deposed, who could have validated Whitacre's claims that the hidden bonuses were a quid pro quo for engaging in illegal price-fixing? The author's appendices are very helpful. ADM and Dwayne Andreas not only have lobbied for years to emasculate our antitrust laws (the "Magna Carta" of free enterprise) but know that the massive soft money donations to key politicians can grease not only the wheels of justice, but also ensure that ADM continues to get huge subsidies for ethanol and other favors from Agriculture Dept. (high fructose corn syrup,peanuts) that have cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Rats in the Grain is highly recommended, and was a difficult book to write because of the case's complexity. James Lieber should be considered for a Pulitzer Prize.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rats in Suits,
By
This review is from: RATS IN THE GRAIN: THE DIRTY TRICKS AND TRIALS OF ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND (Hardcover)
This is the type of information we should be getting on the news...instead of cats stuck in trees and dogs fallen into wells, which too often substitutes for what is really going on in America. Rats in the Grain, about the two-footed rats in suits that manipulate our diet, our government, and our economy....that is the news, ladies and gentlemen. It is fascinating reading, giving the outsider a clear view of how the individuals who make up our government's departments and big business' top offices think and act to our benefit or detriment. Next time your evening news anchor talks about rolling Easter eggs on the White House lawn, call him up and ask him what he thinks about Archer Daniels Midland's rolling our dollars into their bank vaults through fraud and market manipulation.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
See all 40 books this book cites
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
