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Cuckooland

Where the Rich Own the Truth

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Cuckooland

By: Tom Burgis
Narrated by: Joe Eyre
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'Stand by for fireworks as it hits the shelves' SUNDAY TIMES

'If Orwell were with us today, he'd be writing books like this' PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE

'Breath-taking and jaw-dropping' PETER FRANKOPAN

'A true-life thriller' ANNE APPLEBAUM

From the bestselling author of Kleptopia comes a true story about Cuckooland – a world where the rich can buy everything – including the truth.

Everywhere, the powerful are making a renewed claim to the greatest prize of all: to own the truth. The power to choose what you want reality to be and impose that reality on the world.

For three years, Tom Burgis followed a lead that took him deeper and deeper into Cuckooland – the place where the rich own the truth. The trail snaked from the Kremlin to Kathmandu, Stockholm to the Steppe, from a blood-soaked town square in Uzbekistan to a royal retreat in Scotland. Burgis hunted down oligarchs, developed secret sources and traced vast sums of money flowing between multinational corporations, ex-Soviet dictators and the west’s ruling elites. And he found one man who wanted the power to bend reality to his will.

This book tells an astonishing story: a tale of secrets and lies that reveals how fragile that truth can be. Whether it’s in Kazakh torture chambers or the UK’s High Court, the lords of Cuckooland are seizing control of the truth. They decree what stories may be told about war and money and power, what we are permitted to know – and more importantly, what we are not.

From the bestselling author of Kleptopia, Cuckooland is a deeply reported work of non-fiction that reads like a thriller. It is a story of how globalisation and technological revolution have combined to imperil the foundation of free societies: that the truth belongs to the many, not the few.

©2024 Tom Burgis (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers 21st Century Corruption & Misconduct Economic Conditions Economics Modern Politics & Government Russia True Crime White Collar & Corporate Crime Crime Soviet Union Money War
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Critic reviews

‘No one has written a book like Cuckooland. Serious… but it is also at times very funny'
SUNDAY TIMES
‘Savagely funny… Amersi’s obscenity-laden threats against Burgis sparkle through the buoyant prose of Cuckooland. Burgis has somehow managed to make this meticulously researched, sordid tale entertaining. Written as a pacy thriller that communicates the deluded, self-important tone of its subjects, he renders Amersi as both menacing and ridiculous: preening, thin-skinned, panicky'
FINANCIAL TIMES
'The world Burgis reveals is a complex and murky one. To write about this world is to be watched, is to be researched, to be threatened by shockingly expensive lawyers'
GUARDIAN
‘Burgis is one of our finest investigative journalists, a muck-raker who can also turn a caustic phrase… Taken together, his books are chapters in a sustained, convincing story about the ways extreme wealth reshapes the nation'
NEW STATESMAN
'An amazing book… a very beautifully written account of how money works within that [Tory] party'
RORY STEWART, THE REST IS POLITICS
‘Written as a true-life thriller, Cuckooland reveals a secret world of access and influence, where inconvenient facts can be white-washed if you have the right connections and resources… A vital book for this election year’
ANNE APPLEBAUM
‘I read it in one sitting – and couldn’t put it down. Astonishing’
PETER FRANKOPAN
'Cuckooland exposes one of the very gravest dangers of our era: the way the rich and powerful try to suppress the truth and rewrite objective reality. In this lively, scathing account… fearless'
PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE
All stars
Most relevant
A terrible indictment of where Britain has ended up and the enablers who are responsible. Bravo Tom Burgis for shedding some light on the grubby goings-on. A compelling read for anyone interested in ensuring they don't keep getting away with it.

Compelling and nauseating

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Its terrifying how rich and powerful you can get by just being a simple conman. Very depressing to think our leaders are hanging around with such a childish idiot…

Brilliant read!

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Urgent, disturbing yet entertainingly written book of the privatisation of reality, corruption and kleptocracy and how it’s already well established.

The Privatisation of Reality is now!

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I cannot imagine a more elegant way to write about the most mind-blowing corrupting force at the heart of the establishment, A figure that cuts a most erroding figure driving a coach and horses through our fragile constitutional monarchy, any notion of 'good chaps' being enough ( as if), then eviscerates trust & the social contract..

All roads do I believe, lead back to him.

Carly Simon once sang

" youre so vain you probably think this song is about, your so vain.....
you pobbly think this song is about ya don't cha, don't cha"

The chefs kiss here
is Amersi thinks this book is all about him.
in reality , he's not ' that ' special.
He is NOT the story.

xxx

it's elegant. well done you.

Tom Burgess - The Jedi Master of Perception Management.

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In "Cuckooland," Tom Burgis offers a riveting exploration of a world where the affluent and powerful manipulate reality to their advantage, presenting a narrative that is both urgent and timely. This work, stemming from the author acclaimed for "Kleptopia," delves into the murky depths where truth becomes a commodity that can be bought and sold by the highest bidder.

Burgis's journey is both expansive and intimate, tracing a path through diverse and often dangerous locales—from the power corridors of the Kremlin to the secretive realms of Kathmandu, and from the bloodied squares of Uzbekistan to the secluded retreats of Scottish royalty. His pursuit of the story behind "Cuckooland" reveals a complex network of oligarchs, shadowy financiers, and complicit Western elites, all woven into a narrative that challenges the reader's understanding of truth and power.

At the heart of "Cuckooland" lies a chilling revelation: the lords of this metaphorical land are not just reshaping reality to fit their whims but are also dictating the boundaries of our knowledge and understanding. The book serves as a testament to the dangers posed by the convergence of globalisation and technological advancement, threatening the democratic ideal that truth should be accessible to all, not just the privileged few.

Cuckooland is a masterful examination of the contemporary battleground over truth, told with an urgency and a flair for storytelling that makes it a must-read. It is a sobering reminder of the fragility of truth in the face of power and a compelling narrative that holds a mirror to our times.

Cakeism

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