Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has built a new empire underground, through technological and financial networks that the entire world relies upon, which has allowed it to eavesdrop on other countries and isolate its enemies. And now, efforts by countries such as China and Russia to untether themselves from this coercive US-led system are turning the global economy into a battle zone. A gripping and revelatory account of contemporary geopolitics, ‘Underground Empire’ weaves together tales of economic conflict, shadowy surveillance and covert infrastructure projects to explain how the world order has been brought to the brink of chaos – and how we might find a way back from the edge.