The Looting Machine: Warlords, Tycoons, Smugglers and the Systematic Theft of Africa's Wealth
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The Looting Machine: Warlords, Tycoons, Smugglers and the Systematic Theft of Africa's Wealth
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Narrated by:
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Dugald Bruce Lockhart
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By:
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Tom Burgis
About this listen
Overseas Press Club Award Winner 2016
A shocking investigative journey into the way the resource trade wreaks havoc on Africa, ‘The Looting Machine’ explores the dark underbelly of the global economy.
Africa: the world’s poorest continent and, arguably, its richest. While accounting for just 2 percent of global GDP, it is home to 15 per cent of the planet’s crude oil, 40 per cent of its gold and 80 per cent of its platinum. A third of the earth’s mineral deposits lie beneath its soil. But far from being a salvation, this buried treasure has been a curse.
‘The Looting Machine’ takes you on a gripping and shocking journey through anonymous boardrooms and glittering headquarters to expose a new form of financialized colonialism. Africa’s booming growth is driven by the voracious hunger for natural resources from rapidly emerging economics such as China. But in the shadows a network of traders, bankers and corporate raiders has sprung up to grease the palms of venal local political elites. What is happening in Africa’s resource states is systematic looting. In country after country across the continent, the resource industry is tearing at the very fabric of society. But, like its victims, the beneficiaries of this looting machine have names.
For six years Tom Burgis has been on a mission to expose corruption and give voice to the millions of Africans who suffer the consequences of living under this curse. Combining deep reporting with an action-packed narrative, he travels to the heart of Africa’s resource states, meeting a warlord in Nigeria’s oil-soaked Niger Delta and crossing a warzone to reach a remote mineral mine in eastern Congo. The result is a blistering investigation that throws a completely fresh light on the workings of the global economy and will make you think twice about what goes into the mobile phone in your pocket and the tank of your car.
©2015 Tom Burgis (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers LimitedListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"Tom Burgis has managed to uncover a system responsible for the wholesale looting of Africa's mineral resources for the benefit of oligarchic and state interests around the world. French, Chinese, Americans, Russians, Israelis, Brits, Brazilians, not to mention small but rapacious African elites are all involved in pillaging Africa's natural resources to line their pockets with unbelievable sums. Burgis, a gifted young journalist with the Financial Times, has tracked down all these characters across some of Africa's most dangerous hotspots and beyond in Asia, Europe, and America. The reporting is vivid, eye-popping, and even at times very funny." (Misha Glenny, author of McMafia)
What listeners say about The Looting Machine: Warlords, Tycoons, Smugglers and the Systematic Theft of Africa's Wealth
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- S. Phares
- 27-05-17
any eye opener
i loved it...listerned from start to finish in 3 days. Most of what is covered is behind the scene deals that guarantees Africa will remain a continent for the poor mojority.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- F. Vermeulen
- 07-08-16
Staggering insights into corruption
An shocking and saddening detailed exposé into how governments and their associates enrich themselves from Africa's natural resources, and a timely reminder that our welfare in rich countries is based very much on minerals and naturals resources sourced from regions mired in conflict and with shocking human rights records. A must read for anyone that, as is mentioned in the epilogue, drives a car, uses a mobile phone or is considering buying a diamond for their loved one. The author has done a fantastic job in bringing a shadowy and highly sophisticated criminal world to light.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Joe Mkoji
- 12-01-19
Amazing book
Insightful book that highlights in great detail the systems in place that keep Africa in its current state. The book executes this in a way that keeps you engaged in every aspect of the alliances, dealings and consequences on those who do not benefit from the hoarding of wealth described in the book. One of my favourite books to date.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Bill Atkinson
- 20-04-22
Eye Opening
This book whilst opening one’s eyes will create a frustration within that you might just want to pass it by. Don’t.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark H
- 18-02-16
Outstanding.
Would you listen to The Looting Machine: Warlords, Tycoons, Smugglers and the Systematic Theft of Africa's Wealth again? Why?
I have already listened to the book twice and am about to listen to it again. It is well researched, well written and well read by the narrator. It's a compelling and yet heart breaking tale of greed and corruption in Africa. sadly the corruptors them selves are mainly African.
What did you like best about this story?
Having travelled widely in West Africa, through many of the countries mentioned in the book, I cannot say that the story came as much as a surprise but it's nice to know what goes on behind closed doors in Luanda One and the like.
What does Dugald Bruce Lockhart bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
He's a very easy listen. Sounding more of a journalist reporting live from the scene than an actor. It works well
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
I was shaking my head throughout the book. It's tragic that the money is staying at "the top" whilst the desperately poor eke a living by selling anything they can at the side of the roads. The governments owe their people nothing so that's what they get.
Any additional comments?
Many Africans are poor, a minority are staggeringly rich. This book will go some way to explaining why
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Margaret Gallagher
- 05-02-24
Lack of knowledge
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Nothing in it greatly surprised me other than the sheer scale of government corruption and collusion throughout the world. Puts meaning to as the poor get poorer the rich get richer and most do not give a damp.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Freddy
- 15-12-18
Essential for any one interested in Africa resources curse
This is a riveting account of how the mineral resources on the African continent continues to be pillaged , first by colonialist then their early independence stooges and now multi national shadow corporations..
It’s detailed , forensic and at times overwhelming ..
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- E N Cuentro
- 30-04-21
Densely detailed work on Africa's resource curse
This is impressively, densely detailed in presentation and unremittingly hopeless in in subject matter. Burgis is clearly a first class reporter, and it's a privilege to have the benefit of his expertise on the record, although it might have been useful to have more of a sense of potential remedies.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Bjoern E.
- 17-02-24
Another eye-opener
A great introduction into the topic, drawing on a wide range of examples. Mainly focused on Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Tony Cisse
- 02-10-21
Essential
Very well researched, well written and well read. Journalism as gripping as a novel. 5stars
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