Hour of the Predator Encounters with the Autocrats and Tech Billionaires Taking Over the World
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Giuliano da Empoli is an Italian and Swiss writer and political scientist living in France. He was once a senior advisor to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. His debut novel, The Wizard of the Kremlin, sold more than half a million copies in France, where it also won the Grand Prix du Roman and was a finalist for the Goncourt Prize. It went on to become an international bestseller, being translated into thirty-five languages across the world. A film version, starring Jude Law as Vladimir Putin, is forthcoming. The Hour of the Predator is currently France's best-selling non-fiction title, and translation rights have been sold in 17 languages so far. Sam Taylor is a translator, novelist and journalist. He is the author of five novels, including The Two Loves of Sophie Strom, and the award-winning translator of more than 70 books from French, including Laurent Binet's HHhH, Leïla Slimani's Lullaby, and Hubert Mingarelli's A Meal in Winter.An impassioned, dazzling slim volume about the state of the world...This is a sharply written and provocative book, filled with witty asides and gallows humour
- Peter Frankopan, Financial Times
The one book you absolutely need to read in order to understand current politics
- Anne Applebaum, author of 'Autocracy, Inc.',
A brief, bracing and profoundly alarming book... It exists to provoke thought. The result is something like The Prince for our times. Machiavelli might have written to appease an autocrat while Da Empoli is warning against them, but the effect is much the same: a glimpse behind the curtain of how the game is really played
Spectator
There is plenty that is irresistible about "The Hour of the Predator". Mr da Empoli's experiences at the United Nations in New York, the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh and on stage with Mr Altman provide vignettes of the Borgian power grab that he relates with exquisite detachment... Read [this] book, if only to understand how fundamentally the balance of power in the world may be changing
Economist
Immensely readable, mordantly ironic and unsparing
- Michael Ignatieff,
Da 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 Kremlin',
A sharply observed work of political philosophy, with the warning that, in this world, the big ones eat the little ones
Kirkus Reviews
Essential reading for Europe's political elite
Politico
Cultured and perceptive
Irish Independent
A dazzling exposé of the darker side of tech titans and the economic and political power they hold, this eye-opening book from the political advisor and bestselling author of The Wizard of the Kremlin paints a chilling picture of the disintegrating world order and the global rise of autocracy
Waterstones
A dark but dazzling account of the current political and geostrategic upheavals
Le Figaro
A gripping account of how Western elites handed over the keys of power to the new 'tech conquistadors'
Les Echos
Giuliano da Empoli charts the rise of a chilling new world, forged through an unprecedented alliance between unabashed autocrats in the Trump mould and tech titans like Elon Musk
La Croix
In a masterful, evocative narrative, he captures the worst aspects of the conquest led by men like Donald Trump and Sam Altman
L'Express
A luminous thinker, Giuliano da Empoli is the chronicler of our troubled times [and] weaves a narrative as compelling as a novel or a Greek tragedy
Le Monde
He details with a grim lucidity the many ills afflicting our new world
Nouvel Obs
A dark and dazzling book that lays bare the 'predators' of our age
La Tribune
Riveting... Da Empoli sleekly tells us the tale of the enmeshing of the interests of the political strongmen and tech bros...The result is as dramatic as any thriller
Irish Times
A thought-provoking, humorous book that gives us a side-stage view on the machinations of international politics
Irish Examiner
As must-read as any book can be this year
Big Issue
--Praise for The Wizard of the Kremlin
--
A great book, casting light on the creatures that crawl and slither behind the Kremlin's 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 Sweeney
A captivating novel that sails close, perhaps too close, to reality
Financial Times, Books of the Year
His novel has become a guide - devoured by many western politicians - to the mindset of the Kremlin
- Simon Kuper, Lunch with the FT, Financial Times
You need to be credible, to get into a character's 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 Times
I 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 Mail
A chilling perspective on Putin's Russia... I am a dyed-in-the-wool Russophile, so this novel is right in my sweet spot. It called to mind Emmanuel Carrère's 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 Dostoevsky's The Grand Inquisitor. I loved Baranov's company, his pitch-black cynicism, his self-awareness and his sharp political analysis
- Marcel Theroux, Guardian
The short and terrifying true story of the beastly forces dominating our time, where vulgar strongmen, ferocious autocrats, transhuman technologists, and libertarian tyrants dressed in Star Trek fashion are redefining the international order
Air Mail
Describes both the wolves who run governments and those who run tech companies
- David Brooks, New York Times
'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 Ingnatieff
'Da 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 Kremlin
HOW 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 insider's 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 PREDATOR
'In a masterful, evocative narrative, he captures the worst aspects of the conquest led by men like Donald Trump and Sam Altman' ? L'Express
'Da Empoli is the chronicler of our troubled times [and] weaves a narrative as compelling as a novel or a Greek tragedy'?Le Monde
'Details with a grim lucidity the many ills afflicting our new world' ? Nouvel Obs
'A dark and dazzling book that lays bare the 'predators' of our age' ? La Tribune
PRAISE FOR THE WIZARD OF THE KREMLIN
'A great book, casting light on the creatures that crawl and slither behind the Kremlin's 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 Sweeney
'A captivating novel that sails close, perhaps too close, to reality' ? Financial Times, Books of the Year
'His novel has become a guide - devoured by many western politicians - to the mindset of the Kremlin ? Simon Kuper, Lunch with the FT, Financial Times
'You need to be credible, to get into a character's 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 Times
'I 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 Mail
'A chilling perspective on Putin's Russia... I am a dyed-in-the-wool Russophile, so this novel is right in my sweet spot. It called to mind Emmanuel Carrère's 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 Dostoevsky's The Grand Inquisitor. I loved Baranov's company, his pitch-black cynicism, his self-awareness and his sharp political analysis' ? Marcel Theroux, Guardian
New York, September 2024
Florence, March 2012
Riyadh, November 2024
New York, September 2024
Washington, D.C., November 2024
Chicago, November 2017
Montreal, September 2024
Paris, September 1931
Berlin, December 2024
Rome, October 1998
Lisbon, May 2023
Lieusaint, December 2024