Book tour & early reviews

The Hidden Globe comes out in six days!

Dearest subscribers: the season of shameless self-promotion is upon us (well, me.) The Hidden Globe will be published next Tuesday, October 8!

Would you consider putting in a pre-order? I don’t (and won’t) charge for this newsletter—but I would love to keep doing what I’m doing, and buying my book is the #1 way you can help.

Pre-ordering will guarantee that you get the book on time, and good numbers will mean I get proper attention from bookstores and the media. You can also ask your local bookstore to make sure they have copies on pub date, and request that your library stock it, too. Thank you!

If you read Terra Nullius, you probably have a good idea of what the book’s themes are. Now, you can also read an excerpt of a chapter about Dubai in The Atlantic.

A lot of people love to hate Dubai, but when I went in November 2021, I had a great time: being from Geneva, I always feel at home in cities where a large portion of the population is from somewhere else, and there was something cozy about how casually people on the street or in the metro would ask, “where are you from?” (a question that, for valid Trumpian reasons, has gotten a little un-PC in the U.S!) When I wasn’t schlepping around the DIFC compound or the Expo fairgrounds, I was hanging out in a mall with a taxidermied falcon.

Back to book business! I have some great early reviews and events to share.

BOOK TOUR

Next Tuesday, Oct 8 at Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, I’ll be talking to Bloomberg’s Max Abelson about my reporting. The event starts at 7:30 and we’ll go across the street to Fritz for drinks afterwards. I hope some of you can make it!

On Tuesday, Oct 22 at 12:00 noon New America is hosting an online panel for me with my friend and colleague Ben Mauk. If you happen to live in one of the jurisdictions I write about, this is your chance to tune in!

On Monday, November 25 at 7pm, I’ll be reading at Solid State Books in Washington, DC.

And on Tuesday, November 26 at 7pm, I’ll be reading at Red Emma’s in Baltimore.

Stay tuned for more events in Boston, Providence, at The Remarque Institute, at the American Historical Society, and beyond!

I genuinely love public speaking, so if you’d like to set something up at a bookstore, event venue, university, or workplace, drop me a line and we’ll figure it out.

In the meantime, I’ve allowed myself to share some praise for The Hidden Globe from some people and publications I really admire. Early reviews have been great—the Minneapolis Star-Tribune called The Hidden Globe “luminous” and Publisher’s Weekly said it was an “impressive achievement.”

I hope you all read it and feel the same way!

Praise for THE HIDDEN GLOBE

“You might think a history of tax havens would be dull but ‘The Hidden Globe’ is luminous….A brilliant expose of international tax havens reveals how the ruling class shapes our world…In her stellar work of literary journalism, Atossa Araxia Abrahamian peels back murky history and legalese to expose the machinations of these enclaves, how they thrive beyond the reach of laws, sovereign unto themselves. Come for Switzerland, stay for Singapore — the sun never sets on this grift… ‘The Hidden Globe’ could easily have been a litany of malfeasance and wonky woes, and still contributed to debates surrounding equity and the future. Abrahamian’s artistic touch imbues the dry bits with shine and movement. She peoples her narrative with the famous and infamous, cameos from Mary Shelley and Che Guevara to Etienne Schneider, Luxembourg’s former deputy prime minister…A season of unrest looms ahead, and ‘The Hidden Globe’ lays out the unvarnished truth in a luminous feat of reportage.” – Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“There are the maps of the world that everyone knows. The images of the world with borders, oceans and seas, cities and towns. And then there are the maps of the world that few will ever see—the complex world of free trade zones and freeports, flags of convenience and extraterritoriality. Atossa Araxia Abrahamian explores this ‘counter–geography’…which looks to expose the way in which wealth flows around the world outside of the public’s view.” – Diplomatic Courier

“Sharply observed… Abrahamian unravels the opaque world of ‘special economic zones’ and other places…where national and economic boundaries are blurred… Abrahamian also considers trendy concepts like ‘charter cities,’ noting, ‘To cede this territory to rigidly ideological capitalists alone would be a big mistake.’…Her well-researched, engrossing work manages the minutiae of several fields, including telecommunications, maritime law, and fine art, to stitch together a multilayered tale of how privilege works to protect itself. Important documentation of how mechanisms favored by the 1 percent increase global inequalities.” – Kirkus

“A revelatory look… Abrahamian begins by delving into the histories of contemporary tax havens…but her scope is far broader… Providing poetic insight…Abrahamian, who perceptively analyzes these zones as neither ‘all good, nor all evil,’ but as ‘cracks’ that reveal how the world really works. It’s an impressive achievement.” – Publishers Weekly, Starred review

“Fascinating—reads like a novel yet packs a policy punch for anyone interested in global migration, licit and illicit corporate networks, legal fictions and realities, and the ongoing mutation of the nation-state. Read it, share it, and above all, reflect on the paradox that while we grapple with how to exert physical control over the digital world, we ignore the creation of vast new legal and physical spaces in plain sight.” – Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO, New America, and Professor and Dean Emerita, Princeton University

“The Hidden Globe eloquently verifies a long-inarticulate suspicion: that our world has been invisibly remade. Traveling to different parts of the world, Abrahamian describes insidiously interconnected global regimes of inequality and injustice. In the process, she boldly renews our sense of reality and brilliantly illuminates our political impasse.” – Pankaj Mishra, author of The Age of Anger

“Although we imagine the world as divided neatly into nation-states, it is in fact strewn with loopholes, islands, freeports, and zones where the usual laws don’t apply. Such places matter enormously. Abrahamian is the ideal guide—fluid, sharp-eyed, and thoughtful—to this hidden landscape.” – Daniel Immerwahr, author of How to Hide an Empire