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Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World [Paperback]

Nicholas Shaxson
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
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Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World 4.4 out of 5 stars (84)
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Book Description

6 Jan 2011

* Dirty money, tax havens and the offshore system describe the ugliest and most secretive chapter in the history of global economic affairs.

* Tax havens have declared war on honest, law-abiding people around the world.

* Wealthy individuals hold over ten trillion dollars offshore.

* Tax havens are the most important single reason why poor people and poor countries stay poor.

* Britain and the United States are the world's two most important tax havens.

* Tax havens now lie at the very heart of the global economy. Over half of world trade, and most international lending, is processed through them.

* Tax havens have been instrumental in nearly every major economic event, in every big financial scandal, and in every financial crisis since the 1970s, including the latest global economic crisis. Treasure Islands will show how this happens and reveal what the economics text books will not tell you.


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Product details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Bodley Head (6 Jan 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1847921108
  • ISBN-13: 978-1847921109
  • Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 2.5 x 23 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 122,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

`This unlikely page-turner slots neatly into a new genre that has emerged since the credit crunch' --Sunday Times: Culture

`an absolutely riveting book.' --The Herald, January 11, 2011

`The excellent Treasure Islands . . . Shaxson comes as close to anyone ever has in getting to the crux of the tax haven conundrum, which is to attempt to answer the question: why are they tolerated?' --Evening Standard, January 18, 2011

'Shaxson does an outstanding and socially valuable job in penetrating the impenetrable and finds a deeply shocking world.' --Nicholas Stern

'At last, a readable - indeed gripping - book which explains the nuts and bolts of tax havens. More importantly, it lays bare the mechanism that financial capital has been using to stay in charge: capturing government policy-making around the world, shaking off such irritants as democracy and the rule of law, and making sure that suckers like you and me pay for its operators' opulent lifestyles' --Misha Glenny, author of McMafia

'Treasure Islands is the best book on tax havens, ever. It shines a light in some very dark places. It reads like a thriller. The shocking thing is, it's all true. The world's suppliers of corruption services - the bankers, lawyers and accountants working from tax havens - won't want you to read this book. Which is exactly why you should' --Richard Murphy, Director of Tax Research UK

'The struggle against money power is a struggle for human freedom, and Nicholas Shaxson's investigation is a timely exposé of where the plunder is buried' --John Pilger, broadcaster and author of Heroes

'Far more than an exposé, Treasure Islands is a brilliantly illuminating, forensic analysis of where economic power really lies, and the shockingly corrupt way in which it behaves. If you're wondering how ordinary people ended up paying for a crisis caused by the reckless greed of the banking industry, this compellingly readable book provides the answers'
--David Wearing, co-editor of New Left Project

'They who sold us globalisation as a way of the whole world getting richer with fair rules, cheated us by letting the rich and powerful go "offshore". This gripping exposé should help end the scandal' --Anthony Barnett, founder of openDemocracy

'In this riveting, well-written expose, Shaxson goes deep into the largely unexamined realm of offshore money. In the process, he reveals that this shadow world is no mere sideshow, but is troublingly central to modern finance, with the US and the UK as leaders. The resulting abuses are widespread, ranging from tax revenue stripping from African nations to individuals and corporations escaping enforcement and accountability. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the hidden reasons why financial services firms have become so powerful and impossible to reform' --Yves Smith, creator of Naked Capitalism and author of Econned

'Shaxson combines meticulous research with amusing anecdotes, resulting in a very readable account of the murky world of offshore and a strong moral message that the system needs to be changed' --Financial Times

'Perhaps the most important book published in the UK so far this year' --George Mombiot, Guardian

'He has prised the lid off an important and terrifying can of worms'
--Martin Vander Weyer, Literary Review

'lively and well-written book' --Daily Mail

I am sure everybody knows it but the book by Nick Shaxson, Treasure Islands, is really an utterly superb book. --Jeffrey Sachs

"Shaxson delves into capitalism's secret nooks and tells us about how a culture of secrecy can perpetuate itself. Very interesting." --The Evening Standard, William Leith, January 2012

"A compelling read [...] an important and very much alive topic, it'll take you a few hours to read the book but it will be a worthwhile investment of time."
--The Bookbag, Peter McGee, January 2012

Book Description

This is the ugliest chapter in global economic affairs since slavery - and secretive offshore tax havens are at the heart of the trouble.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 47 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Book 10 April 2012
Format:Paperback
This is a well written and deeply informative book. the trouble is it will also upset you as you read it with an increasing sense of anger that this is allowed and encouraged. Of course Amazon is also a well known culprit of offshore practices (e.g. Luxembourg) so I will not be buying anything from them again. So please get this book, but not from Amazon unless you have a sense of irony.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't be put off 7 Oct 2012
Format:Paperback
Despite the lurid cover and the tabloid-style blurbs written entirely in shouting upper-case text, this turns out to be a fascinating and important book, full of well-researched information, which for the most part the author presents in a straightforward style.

Occasionally he goes a bit overboard with dramatic effect, and inevitably with this kind of book there is a fair bit of repetition of points, but generally I found this well written and all too believable. The message, in a nutshell, is that the financial interests of a very rich, very small minority, mostly bankers based in the City and in Wall Street, have fixed things so they grab more and more of the world's wealth, while the rest of us get less and less.
They do this by putting their business and their money in offshore tax havens, sometimes legally and sometimes not, and often on some fuzzy ground in between. It is tolerated by governments because those governments are often the same people, or very close to them.

I know enough about the subject to know that, although some of it might seem hard to believe, the author is presenting us with facts that for the most part can't be disputed. This massive transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich, or more accurately the middle classes to the very rich, is a global scandal, and has reached these proportions only because it all goes on outside the jurisdiction of true democracy. Everyone should read this book and at least see what is going on here, because it affects us all.
It's just a pity the publishers gave it such a dumb cover (TAX HAVENS AND THE MEN WHO STOLE THE WORLD!!!!). Just ignore the hype and get to the story.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Why we need to Eliminate Tax Havens 7 Oct 2012
Format:Paperback
A detailed but readable book on the shadowy world of tax havens. Very scary stuff! The chapter about the City of London is a big eye opener
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars great book
great book, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about finance or how the world in general works
Published 1 month ago by annelie gunnarstedt
1.0 out of 5 stars If George Monbiot recommends anything, steer clear.
Once I put this book down (in a library,after five minutes) I just couldn't pick it up again. Childish. Right-on nonsense. Laughable.
Published 1 month ago by Cliff Fiscal
5.0 out of 5 stars The real truth about bankers
They're even worse than currently portrayed. But given the scale of the problem, is it even possible to contemplate how to put them back in their box? Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. D. J. Croydon
5.0 out of 5 stars I knew it was happening but not to this extent!
Very revealing and informative book, making the case that the global financial industries are the sector who really impact and run our lives. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ms Common sense
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
It is hard to understand the intricacies of international finance and tax havens - but that is their whole point! Read more
Published 1 month ago by SAP
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and Important
Have you ever wondered how just after the 2nd World War when Britain was almost bankrupted by the War effort government could afford to set up the NHS, have a massive... Read more
Published 1 month ago by G. K. Lowell
4.0 out of 5 stars Treasure Island
This book gives a useful insight into the world of tortuous financial arrangements.
As with any critique, one has to temper it by approaching with an open mind and not accept... Read more
Published 3 months ago by silverado
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book and good subject
You can do two reviews on this, one about the book and the other on the subject matter....

The book was a good read but I felt that it did lack further explanation of... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Reg
5.0 out of 5 stars A shocking but necessary read
I heard about this book on Radio 4, and ordered it with a feeling of duty - not expecting to really understand anything. I was greatly surprised. Read more
Published 3 months ago by elizabeth busch
5.0 out of 5 stars Home truths
I guess Amazon themselves must have read this more as a guide to tax management rather than the brilliant critique of modern international taxation that it is. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Help
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