The Silk Road was a website operated on a program called Tor, which allowed users to remain anonymous while buying items, selling items or even just talking to one another. And that’s the beauty of being Catholic.American Kingpin is a book written by Nick Bilton about a man named Ross Ulbricht, also known as Dread Pirate Roberts (yes, like in The Princess Bride ), the mastermind behind the Silk Road. Surprisingly, this turned into more than a fun summer read for me. Kingpin, though not in any way, shape, or form a Catholic book, has had me reflecting on the beauty and freedom we have in the Catholic Church, on the freedom the boundaries and “limits” make possible. But in matters of ethics and morals, we need a hard stop, a way of discerning and forming our conscience. Accepting that there was a place the buck stopped (the Catholic Church), an authority figure and a hierarchy (however flawed) gave me the confidence I needed. I never worried about confession.įor me, it came down to authority. The hurdle for me was never Mary or the saints.
It’s a struggle that, in some ways, I laid down when I became Catholic. Usually, I have a healthy disregard for “the greater good,” but Kingpin made me think, consciously, about why we need to have authority figures and a mindset that’s above and beyond ourselves. In some ways, this book is a glimpse of why something greater than me matters. Kingpin is a powerful story, one that I would have been ignorant of and that, honestly, probably affects me more than I would have thought. I also want to see if the book’s as good as I remember or if it’s drivel (as I’ve seen some reference it in the last decade). I want to understand better who I was…and who I am now. I suspect I’ll be revisiting it soon, especially after seeing Rand referenced again in this book. Now that I pay taxes…well…” and he nodded. I found myself traversing an area known as the Dark Web, which, honestly, I hadn’t really thought of before.ĭoc replied, “I don’t think I would have appreciated it in college. In around 300 pages, Bilton outlines the rise and fall of what the Silk Road, the “Amazon of drugs,” and its founder, Ross Ulbright. For another, I’m not often interested in them.īut there’s value in reading outside my comfort zone, and this book reminded me of summer reading of my younger years and discovering great authors accidentally at the library.Īmerican Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road (Portfolio/Penguin, 2017), came to my hands via my local library, because I heard the author, Nick Bilton, on a podcast.Īmerican Kingpin coverWhile I don’t necessarily recommend this book for the faint-of-heart, I did enjoy it and couldn’t put it down. For one thing, I have a ton of books waiting for me (and they all look so good!). I don’t often pick up NYT bestsellers or things that aren’t on my Catholic reading radar.
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