Butler to the World, Oliver Bullough
Butler to the World, Oliver Bullough
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Butler to the World
The Book the Oligarchs Don't Want You to Read - How Britain Helps the World's Worst People Launder Money, Commit Crimes, and Get Away with Anything

Author: Oliver Bullough

Narrator: Oliver Bullough

Unabridged: 8 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/14/2022

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

This program is read by the author.

In his forceful follow-up to Moneyland, Oliver Bullough unravels the dark secret of how Britain placed itself at the center of the global offshore economy and at the service of the worst people in the world.

The Suez Crisis of 1956 was the nadir of Britain's twentieth century, the moment when the once-superpower was bullied into retreat. "Great Britain has lost an empire and not yet found a role," said Dean Acherson, a former US secretary of state. Acheson's line has entered into the canon of great quotations: but it was wrong. Britain had already found a role. The leaders of the world just hadn't noticed it yet.

Butler to the World reveals how Britain came to assume its role as the center of the offshore economy. Written polemically, but studded with witty references to the butlers of popular fiction, it demonstrates how so many elements of modern Britain have been put at the service of the world's oligarchs.

The Biden administration is putting corruption at the heart of its foreign policy, and that means it needs to confront Britain's role as the foremost enabler of financial crime and ill behavior. This audiobook lays bare how London has deliberately undercut U.S. regulations for decades, and calls into question the extent to which Britain can be considered a reliable ally.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

About Oliver Bullough

Oliver Bullough is the author of non-fiction books on Russian history and politics: The Last Man in Russia, and Let Our Fame Be Great, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize in the UK and won the Cornelius Ryan in the US. Bullough is a writer for the Guardian, and his work has been published by British GQ, The New York Times, and the BBC. He lives in London.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Melindam on January 10, 2025

Cui Bono? Or The Butler did it? If I don't do it, somebody else will." “Boiled down to its essentials, finance always does the same thing: it takes money from people who have it but don’t need it, and gives it to people who need it and don’t have it, and earns a fee for its trouble. Governments try t......more

Goodreads review by David on May 29, 2022

If you're not up on your oligarchs, kleptocrats and millionaire scammers, Oliver Bullough's Butler to the World will come as a major shock. In it, he shows how both British government and finance have altered or ignored laws, welcomed criminals and exported crime to other countries, all in the name......more

Goodreads review by Ted on April 27, 2022

Exploring the way in which Britain services oligarchs, builds tax havens and launders money, Oliver Bullough presents a startling, if sometimes overdramatic, picture of current policy on economic crime. This is a polemic, let's get that out the way to start. It takes a strong anti-UK Government stan......more

Goodreads review by goldencritic on February 22, 2023

Druga połowa jest w moim przekonaniu lepsza, ale ile się męczyłam, żeby do niej dotrzeć.........more

Goodreads review by Jim on October 18, 2022

In the first half of 2022 a huge amount of media conversation was being dedicated to how deeply influential Russian oligarchs had become in Britain, largely as a consequence of Putin's February invasion of the Ukraine. Bullough's book couldn't be more timely. Bit by bit Butler to the World documents......more


Awards

  • New Yorker Best Books of the Year
  • Amazon.com Best Books of the Year