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xix, 300 pages ; 24 cm
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"Originally published in 2026 in the UK by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd, a Hachette UK company"--Title page verso
Introduction : Speedy -- Under the arches -- Back in the USSR -- A mighty jungle beast -- Dollar signs -- A very Danish drama -- Good guys R us -- Buried treasure -- Turning into sludge -- Shorting God -- Barbarians and bureaucrats
"For decades, private equity firms have infiltrated every corner of modern life. Wielding debt as a weapon, they push vital services into crisis. Their cover story is that 'creative destruction' is merely essential to growth. Old-school capitalists say they're dismantling everything that made our economies work. 'Private equity,' is its own kind of camouflage that gives no suggestion of the debt involved in its deals nor of the controversial techniques it uses to generate profits. The new owners think they can hide in the shadows. But the owned are fighting back. In The Asset Class, Hettie O'Brien penetrates a hidden empire of billion-dollar deals and covert financial warfare. From Copenhagen to San Francisco and Barcelona to the Yorkshire Dales, she follow the money, the trail of destruction, and the industry's murky ideological roots from 1970s trips to Moscow to the present day. What she finds is chilling: Private equity isn't just reshaping the economy -- it's selling out the very foundations of Western society."-- Book jacket flap