The Hour Of The Predator

The one book you absolutely need to read in order to understand current politics ? Anne Applebaum, author of Autocracy, Inc.Immensely readable, mordantly ironic and unsparing ? Michael IngnatieffDa Empoli issues a warning from history, that the Borgia poisoners are back as tech bros. Brilliant, acidly witty, terrifying? John Sweeney, author of Killer in the KremlinHOW DO YOU DEFEND DEMOCRACY WHEN THE RULES HAVE CHANGED?Presidents turning into monarchs. Tech tycoons and autocrats intent on global regime change. Armies of cyber trolls.The old order is at an end. The Hour of the Predator has come.Former political advisor Giuliano da Empoli takes us on an insiders journey through this new reality, from the Glass Palace of the UN to the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton, from top secret meetings to violent power struggles. We encounter dictators and tyrants, strongmen and AI billionaires- geopolitical predators, and the flailing leaders who desperately try to appease them.PRAISE FOR THE HOUR OF THE PREDATORIn a masterful, evocative narrative, he captures the worst aspects of the conquest led by men like Donald Trump and Sam Altman ? LExpressDa Empoli is the chronicler of our troubled times [and] weaves a narrative as compelling as a novel or a Greek tragedy?Le MondeDetails with a grim lucidity the many ills afflicting our new world ? Nouvel ObsA dark and dazzling book that lays bare the predators of our age ? La TribunePRAISE FOR THE WIZARD OF THE KREMLINA great book, casting light on the creatures that crawl and slither behind the Kremlins walls, on the mineral hardness of Putin, on the chaos engine that is his way of hurting us. Read this book and you will understand the Russian mind-fuck. Read it ? John SweeneyA captivating novel that sails close, perhaps too close, to reality ? Financial Times, Books of the YearHis novel has become a guide - devoured by many western politicians - to the mindset of the Kremlin ? Simon Kuper, Lunch with the FT, Financial TimesYou need to be credible, to get into a characters head and present their point of view... But it has to be entertaining, and it has to be convincing. His book succeeds on both measures ? Peter Conradi, Sunday TimesI doubt I have anywhere seen a cleverer portrayal of the Russian view of power, politics and the world, or a better explanation of how the colourless, secret police bureaucrat Putin swelled into the monstrous, fascinating thing he has become... Take this magical mystery tour of the Kremlin and see if it does not make you think. And what pleasure is greater than that? ? Peter Hitchens, Daily MailA chilling perspective on Putins Russia... I am a dyed-in-the-wool Russophile, so this novel is right in my sweet spot. It called to mind Emmanuel Carrres Limonov, the nonfiction of Peter Pomerantsev, the political thrillers of Robert Harris, the documentary films of Adam Curtis, and the cold-hearted logic of Fyodor Dostoevskys The Grand Inquisitor. I loved Baranovs company, his pitch-black cynicism, his self-awareness and his sharp political analysis ? Marcel Theroux, Guardian