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Kleptopia
- Author
- Tom Burgis
- Narrator
- Tom Burgis
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 3 September 2020
- Run Time
- 10 hours 58 minutes
- Format
- x-book®
- Rating
- 4.2 (5 reviews)
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What to expect
‘When you pick this book up, you won’t be able to put it down’ MISHA GLENNY, author of MCMAFIA
‘Gripping, disturbing and deeply reported’ BEN RHODES, bestselling author of THE WORLD AS IT IS
In this real-life thriller packed with jaw-dropping revelations, award-winning investigative journalist Tom Burgis reveals a terrifying global web of kleptocracy and corruption.
Kleptopia follows the dirty money that is flooding the global economy, emboldening dictators, enriching oligarchs and poisoning democracies. From the Kremlin to Beijing, Harare to Riyadh, London to the Trump White House, it shows how the thieves are uniting – and the terrible human cost.
A body in a burned-out Audi. Workers riddled with bullets in the Kazakh desert. A rigged election in Zimbabwe. A British banker silenced and humiliated for trying to expose the truth about the City of London – the world’s piggy bank for blood money.
Riveting, horrifying and written like fiction, this book shows that while we are looking the other way, all that we hold most dear is being stolen.
Critics Review
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‘A ghastly and very important story’
Guardian -
‘A meticulously reported piece of investigative journalism written in the style of a fast-paced thriller … Gripping … Kleptopia is not a far away republic in central Asia; it is all around us’
The Times -
‘I don’t do book reviews. But I am reading Kleptopia very slowly as I have to keep picking my jaw up off the floor … Fascinating. Terrifying’
Paul Lewis -
‘I might not have read, or even heard of Tom Burgis if ENRC hadn’t sued. Now I’m in. #Kleptopia’ Hugh Laurie
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‘A must-read… A magisterial account of the money and violence behind the world’s most powerful dictatorships … Meticulously reported’
Washington Post -
‘The architects of our national security would do well to bring to their meetings a well-thumbed copy … It unpicks the filthy flipside of globalisation … Incendiary’
Edward Lucas, The Times -
‘Does the job brilliantly … with a hero straight out of a John le Carré novel … Wonderfully if grimly entertaining’
Economist -
‘His landmark book he lays bare what we need to know, and act upon … Burgis provides us with the terrifying evidence. Read it and act’
Jon Snow -
‘Read Kleptopia now. There is no time to lose … Tom Burgis demonstrates that money does indeed stink — and shows how to follow its scent’
Roberto Saviano -
‘A powerful, appalling, and stunningly reported exposé … It reads like fiction, but unfortunately is all too true: Burgis names names, and follows the money, right into the Trump White House … Shows how dark money has grown from a national problem into an international scourge’
Jane Mayer -
‘Reveals exactly why in the last thirty years organised crime and financial capitalism have fused to create a force of such power that no government or leader is free from the pressure it is able to apply … When you pick this book up, you won't be able to put it down’
Misha Glenny
User Reviews
Book 4.2
Narration 4.0
-
5.0 5.0
With a title like Kleptopia you know you are not going to get a fairy story. However, the beating heart of this book is about mischief making and moral strength of whistle-blowers. This is what gives heat and light to the, unfortunately, predictable tale of corruption and greed at the heart of modern Britain. Please buy this. You will be enlightened and entertained.
h braithwaite 2025-09-01 -
5.0 5.0
Extremely engaging and gripping. It's not that we don't have a clue of these things happening but nobody has put all the pieces together so nicely.
Aleksandra 2024-07-08 -
1.0 1.0
Purchased this book some months ago, as preview read quite interesting. Well have only managed 50 minutes of it and given up... it could well be a good book to listen to. BUT and here's the but, novelists shouls STOP reading their own books, his voice is as interesting as watching paint dry, and to be honest, thats most likely better listening. There is no emphasis on words or sentences just some guy reading of a page. Yes it might cost money to get a professional reader, but its necessary. I listen to a lit of audio books and only once made this comment on reading. That was on the books by Rev Richard Cole, his books were good,
Have only given one star, may well be worth more who knows. Would love to hear anyone elses thoughts
Unfortunately, its being deleted from recordsNigel Tansley 2024-06-10 -
5.0 5.0
Scary, intelligent, gripping, and superbly written
fluentindothraki 2023-05-17
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5.0 4.0
Excellent insight into the extraction of wealth and corruption of those entrusted with state assets in the former Soviet Union. The author also explores how western institutions enable and legitimise the corrupt by courting and welcoming massive flows of dirty money and allowing judicial systems to be manipulated by the super corrupt super rich. Thank goodness for the x-book - seeing the text helped me keep track of all the different characters, and I still think I need to listen once more to catch everything.
fb 2022-03-12
Details
- Author
- Tom Burgis
- Narrator
- Tom Burgis
- Duration
- 10 hours 58 minutes
- Release Date
- 3 September 2020
- ISBN
- 9780008308377
- Format
- x-book®
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- Corporate crime / white-collar crime, International economics
- Rating
- 4.2(5 reviews)
- Narration
- 4.0(5 reviews)
Synopsis
SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ‘If you think the UK isn't corrupt, you haven't looked hard enough … This terrifying book follows a global current of dirty money, and the murders and kidnappings required to sustain it’ GEORGE MONBIOT, GUARDIAN AN ECONOMIST AND WASHINGTON POST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 ‘When you pick this book up, you won’t be able to put it down’ MISHA GLENNY, author of MCMAFIA ‘Gripping, disturbing and deeply reported’ BEN RHODES, bestselling author of THE WORLD AS IT IS In this real-life thriller packed with jaw-dropping revelations, award-winning investigative journalist Tom Burgis reveals a terrifying global web of kleptocracy and corruption. Kleptopia follows the dirty money that is flooding the global economy, emboldening dictators, enriching oligarchs and poisoning democracies. From the Kremlin to Beijing, Harare to Riyadh, London to the Trump White House, it shows how the thieves are uniting – and the terrible human cost. A body in a burned-out Audi. Workers riddled with bullets in the Kazakh desert. A rigged election in Zimbabwe. A British banker silenced and humiliated for trying to expose the truth about the City of London – the world’s piggy bank for blood money. Riveting, horrifying and written like fiction, this book shows that while we are looking the other way, all that we hold most dear is being stolen.
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