American Kingpin
The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road Drugs Empire
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American Kingpin
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Narrated by:
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Will Damron
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By:
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Nick Bilton
About this listen
The unbelievable true story of the man now pardoned by President Trump
Random House presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of American Kingpin by Nick Bilton, read by Will Damron.
From New York Times-bestselling author Nick Bilton comes a true-life thriller about the rise and fall of Ross Ulbricht, aka the Dread Pirate Roberts, the founder of the online black market Silk Road.
In 2011, Ulbricht, a 26-year-old libertarian idealist and former Boy Scout, launched "a website where people could buy anything anonymously, with no trail whatsoever that could lead back to them." He called it Silk Road, opened for business on the Dark Web, and christened himself the Dread Pirate Roberts (after the Princess Bride character). The site grew at a tremendous pace, quickly becoming a $1.2 billion enterprise where you could buy or sell drugs, hacking software, forged passports, counterfeit cash, guns, grenades, and poisons.
The Silk Road soon caught the attention of the Feds, who embarked on an epic two-year manhunt for the site's proprietor. Ulbricht, in the meantime, struggled to maintain control of his double life and his marketplace, which he originally started to prove that legalising drugs could make society safer. He gradually abandoned his libertarian ideals to rule Silk Road with increasingly authoritarian force. At one point, he engaged the services of hired hit men to take out employees he felt had wronged him. Soon, some of the Federal agents who were supposed to be hunting for Ulbricht were lured into the dark world and switched sides to join him.
This is a true-life thriller about ambition gone awry, spurred on by the defining clash of our time: the new world of libertarian-leaning, anonymous, decentralised web advocates and the old world of government control, order, and the rule of law. Bilton's dazzling rendering and gift for narrative make for an endlessly fascinating drama.
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What listeners say about American Kingpin
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Mr
- 05-01-18
The power of the internet, another example.
Powerful example of the potential to rise against law and order. Using avenues that simply cannot be accessed by anything other than the internet.
Will Damron is an excellent narrator in my opinion.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Greyman
- 23-11-17
a very interesting and well written / read account
a very interesting and well written / read account
i really enjoyed it and look forward to more like it
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Brendan
- 19-05-18
Gripping
Well read and faced paced - loved it.
Quite a story that makes you consider who really are the bad guys.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Modris
- 29-09-19
Brilliant
Very well detailed and narrated masterpiece.
Enjoyed every second of the book.
Thank you for the brilliant journey underground!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- J. Zmarzlik
- 11-08-21
a very interesting read
You can learn a lots from this book if you want to. I enjoyed it very much.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Skydiver7
- 07-02-18
Brilliant story and narration
This was a great true story and so brilliantly told. I don't normally listening to something like this, preferring business books, but had it recommended to me and what a great story it was to listen to.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- petefitz2004
- 07-02-18
Listen to this book in 2 days, excellent.
excellent book, well written. only put it down as i had to work. an insight into the dark web and silk road which i had heard about but never really new much about.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Gary
- 21-07-17
Great
This is an audible 'must listen too!' ! fantastic from start to finish. Simply brilliant
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- J. Simmons
- 17-05-19
Amazing
A real life Breaking Bad.
Excellent story of a modern version of online gangsters.
Brilliant.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- mark
- 30-11-17
hooked from the start
great insight into the workings behind the dark web and silk road. the story's a game of cat and mouse. great listen
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