Offshore
Stealth Wealth and the New Colonialism
by Brooke Harrington
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Pub Date Sep 17 2024 | Archive Date Aug 31 2024
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Description
An eye-opening account of offshore finance: a secretive system making the rich richer while corroding democracy, capitalism and the environment.
This engrossing deep dive exposes how the shadowy global system of offshore finance fuels economic crises and austerity while also undermining democracy and the rule of law. Sociologist Brooke Harrington trained as an offshore wealth manager then spent years immersed in tax havens around the world, observing and interviewing the experts who keep the secrets and protect the fortunes of the global ultra-rich. She shows what offshore finance costs all of us, and how it has colonized the world—not on behalf of any one country, but to benefit a largely invisible empire of a few thousand billionaires who help themselves to the best society has to offer while sticking us with the bill. As politicians struggle to address the deepening economic and political inequality destabilizing the world, Harrington’s exposé of the offshore system is a vital resource for understanding the most pressing crises of our time.
Advance Praise
"You cannot understand the world of the super-rich without reading Brooke Harrington. Literary, intrepid, and utterly original, she writes with insight and humor. Offshore is a portrait of plutocracy that is drawn not from statistics but from real-world encounters that the world almost never sees. " -Evan Osnos New Yorker staff writer and author of Wildland
"A riveting and eye-opening dive into the offshore world by a sociologist who, through participant observation methods, has revolutionized the study of the subject. This book is a must read for anyone concerned about the future of inequality and the future of democracy. " -Gabriel Zucman, author of The Hidden Wealth of Nations
"At a time when autocracies are proliferating, and with them practices of institutionalized theft and corruption, sociologist and certified wealth manager Brooke Harrington reveals the workings of the secretive offshore system that props up autocrats and damages democracies around the world. An essential read for our times." -Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781324064947 |
| PRICE | $22.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 192 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Stroop W, Reviewer
An illuminating, accessible, and compelling look into offshore finance and its disastrous effects. I appreciate the way the author makes a complex topic interesting and understandable - a true expert. This is a must-read primer for anyone interested in global politics, corruption, and some practical steps toward ensuring more equity.
Thank you to W.W. Norton and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.
Vicky W, Reviewer
"Offshore" by Brooke Harrington is a fascinating glimpse into the financial activities of the global elite. Through years of research and a focus on the people who keep the system running rather than the elites themselves, Harrington paints a compelling portrait of how offshore financing hurts all nations.
Harrington begins the book with an explanation of the rationales for utilizing offshoring wealth and the mechanisms used to keep immense wealth out of sight. What separates this book from others I have read on the topic is the focus on British colonialism and how its legacy has directly created the offshoring system that we have today. Harrington traces the impacts of the British legal and financial systems on its former colonies, including the United States, and how many vulnerable nations were put in positions of creating financial tax havens in order to keep their countries alive post-colonialism.
Along with walking through the history of offshore finance, Harrington also demonstrates how the wealth placed into tax havens almost always comes at the cost of higher tax burdens and lower quality of public services for actual citizens. Governments become more focused on catering to the uber-wealthy rather than serving their own people and criminality tends to increase.
The book ends on a somewhat positive note and focuses on possible avenues for combatting this system, with an emphasis on the value of public stigma. To that point, books like this one, that can outline the issue in a clear and succinct manner, are incredibly important.
If you are looking for a quick but informative dive into the financial systems that are leading to the rise of populism and appalling levels of global income inequality, "Offshore" is a great place to start.
Thank you to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for providing me with an advanced copy of this book to review.
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