An eye-opening and sobering investigation that challenges us to consider the suffering embedded in our everyday devices.
A land rich in resources hides a shocking story of the exploitation and corruption behind the green energy revolution.
Journalist Niarchos digs into the global minerals trade at the heart of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a hub in the vast supply chains that have brought misery to many and immense profits to a few. “This was a book on batteries, I thought, a topic that might cause eyes to glaze over during dinner talk,” he writes. “But as I delved further into the world of lithium-ion, I realized that it was not simply a story about sockets and charges—it was also a story about control and immense power.” Drawing on hundreds of interviews, he explores mining communities that extract cobalt, lithium, copper, and other metals fueling the rechargeable battery boom. The narrative moves briskly through colonial history and the political and social forces behind today’s “battery wars.” The heaviest burden falls on the world’s poorest—“artisanal miners” scraping minerals with crude tools and little protection. Niarchos shows how the “new energy map” entangles Congo, Indonesia, and Western Sahara in corrupt supply chains feeding mobile phones and electric vehicles. Told with journalistic flair, the story confirms the cynic’s view of economic development in the Global South: Graft, corruption, and self-dealing dominate as Belgian, Chinese, British, and American powers scramble for resources. The Chinese were quick to seize opportunity. By 2024, two entrepreneurs, Robin Zeng and Wang Chuanfu, controlled the battery market through ATL and BYD. Niarchos writes, “Elon Musk may have been thought of as the battery king of the West, but Zeng and Wang were power-storage emperors.” Fast-paced and deeply researched, this account centers on Congo’s inhabitants, caught in waves of politics, war, famine, and global demand. The author not only traveled widely in dangerous places but also provides a cast of key players and extensive notes. His book will have readers rethink the ethics of extraction—you’ll never look at your phone or your EV in quite the same way again.
An eye-opening and sobering investigation that challenges us to consider the suffering embedded in our everyday devices.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593492017
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Penguin Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.
An insider’s chronicle of a pivotal presidential campaign.
Several months into the mounting political upheaval of Donald Trump’s second term and following a wave of bestselling political exposés, most notably Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Original Sin on Joe Biden’s health and late decision to step down, former Vice President Harris offers her own account of the consequential months surrounding Biden’s withdrawal and her swift campaign for the presidency. Structured as brief chapters with countdown headers from 107 days to Election Day, the book recounts the campaign’s daily rigors: vetting a running mate, navigating back-to-back rallies, preparing for the convention and the debate with Trump, and deflecting obstacles in the form of both Trump’s camp and Biden’s faltering team. Harris aims to set the record straight on issues that have remained hotly debated. While acknowledging Biden’s advancing decline, she also highlights his foreign-policy steadiness: “His years of experience in foreign policy clearly showed….He was always focused, always commander in chief in that room.” More blame is placed on his inner circle, especially Jill Biden, whom Harris faults for pushing him beyond his limits—“the people who knew him best, should have realized that any campaign was a bridge too far.” Throughout, she highlights her own qualifications and dismisses suggestions that an open contest might have better served the party: “If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them.” Facing Trump’s increasingly unhinged behavior, Harris never openly doubts her ability to confront him. Yet she doesn’t fully persuade the reader that she had the capacity to counter his dominance, suggesting instead that her defeat stemmed from a lack of time—a theme underscored by the urgency of the book’s title. If not entirely sanguine about the future, she maintains a clear-eyed view of the damage already done: “Perhaps so much damage that we will have to re-create our government…something leaner, swifter, and much more efficient.”
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781668211656
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
