---
product_id: 62311336
title: "Nothing but a Circus: Misadventures among the Powerful Hardcover – 26 Jan. 2017"
brand: "daniel levin"
price: "€ 48.31"
currency: EUR
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 20
url: https://www.desertcart.fi/products/62311336-nothing-but-a-circus-misadventures-among-the-powerful-hardcover-26
store_origin: FI
region: Finland
---

# Nothing but a Circus: Misadventures among the Powerful Hardcover – 26 Jan. 2017

**Brand:** daniel levin
**Price:** € 48.31
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Nothing but a Circus: Misadventures among the Powerful Hardcover – 26 Jan. 2017 by daniel levin
- **How much does it cost?** € 48.31 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Currently out of stock
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.fi](https://www.desertcart.fi/products/62311336-nothing-but-a-circus-misadventures-among-the-powerful-hardcover-26)

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- daniel levin enthusiasts

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## Description

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Adventures among the global heathen
  

*by J***Y on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 February 2017*

I liked this book but gave it three stars because having worked in similar initiatives as the author I wasn't surprised by the idiotic situations and people he encounters  I wonder if those without experience in this realm can appreciate the absurdities the author documents.  I was surprised at the patience and indulgence he demonstrates to the chuckle-heads he encounters.  His idealism continually drives him, but I would also have liked to hear about the successes of the model he alludes to, as there seemed to be a high degree of interest at top levels in various countries.  Surely there are shining examples of success but perhaps the author feels these are not as lively in recounting.  The reconstructed dialogue is polished and adds considerably to what would otherwise be highly entertaining drinking stories.  I'm sure Levin has a few of those, too, as I can't imagine he's exhausted his subject.  An amusing light read, with a novelist's deft touch in letting the characters, good and bad, speak for themselves.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    It was a great adventure to read a very different books from a ...
  

*by A***R on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 March 2017*

It was a great adventure to read a very different books from a real "Insider". The reader gets to know a different side with regards to diplomats and political leaders. The book is a real "page turner" and a source of Information of the real deals behind the secene. The author is a truly unique real life character and presents his experience is a sourounding which is in most cases a no-go-area for "normal" people. In short, the authort provides the reader with a peek into negotiations tables of usually hidden back rooms.

### ⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Nothing new or surprising here
  

*by M***D on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 February 2017*

This is a rather strange book. The author, a US lawyer, seems to have had involvement in privatisation programmes in various developing economies, and specialises in developing financial skills for such countries. He relates stories of some of his experiences over an unspecified number of years which he uses to demonstrate the venal, untrustworthy, sometimes stupid, sometimes incompetent, usually self-serving mentalities of those he comes across, whether senior politicians, civil servants, aid agency staff or businessmen.Some of the stories are amusing - the American presenting at a conference in Angola talking about systemic risk in the payments process which concentrates on risks that are irrelevant to a cash-based economy like that in Angola, and which is delivered in English, without a translator to a largely Portuguese-speaking audience says much about the failure to really understand the differences between nations & the needs of the developing world and displays a cultural condescension that is disturbing. The story of the Chinese officials demanding that the finance minster of an African country should miss a regular World Bank/IMF meeting in favour of meeting a Chinese commercial delegation is hilarious in its details, if not for what it demonstrates. Perhaps more worrying were the US officials whose knowledge of the world outside US shores is so poor that they think China might help them out in something of no benefit to China without some quid pro quo from the US in an area of Chinese interest. One US official even intimates that the State Department will help out US companies with commercial strategies and that the 'fee' might be a sizeable donation to a favoured charity or the US Secretary's own family foundation.The problem for me, was that none of this was at all surprising - that there are incompetent US politicians and officials who only view world affairs through the prism of US domestic life and experience; that international institutions are often corrupt, incompetent or self-serving or all three; that corruption happens in many ways all across the world; that 'players' are often out for themselves; that narcissism, megalomania & duplicity are commonplace in business and politics.  The greatest surprise to me was that a well-educated lawyer like the author should not have seen some of this coming - his gullibility and seeming inability to ask questions first is astonishing. In his acknowledgements he mentions that his family have doubts that publishing the book will be good for his career - I know what they mean: on the basis of the book I wouldn't engage him to advise on politics & international affairs! His naiveté is shocking even if some of the events he narrates took place some time ago  and I hope he learned from the experiences (I have my doubts, though).Overall then, the book does not live up to the claim on the front cover that it is a "brilliant observation on the anthropology of power". What we are left with is just a string of anecdotes which are unsurprising given the world in which the author plies his trade and which say as much about him as about the people/events he is describing.I received a free digital copy for review via NetGalley.

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*Product available on Desertcart Finland*
*Store origin: FI*
*Last updated: 2026-03-11*