Year of the Rat
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  • Published: 8 May 2025
  • ISBN: 9781529957358
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $36.99

Year of the Rat

Undercover in the British Far Right

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
19 Aug 2025
EBook
8 May 2025
Audiobook
8 May 2025
Hardback
8 Jun 2025
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Follows HOPE not hate researcher and reporter Harry Shukman on a year undercover infiltrating far-right groups in the UK

Far-right groups are now the most regular perpetrators of terrorist activity in the UK according to Prevent and are more visible than ever: on the streets, in the corridors of power. But how much do we really know about the myriad shadowy political collectives that have insinuated themselves into every stratum of British society?

Harry Shukman, a researcher with HOPE not hate, set out to explore this secretive world that seemingly hides from us in plain sight. He spent a year living under an assumed name, wearing a hidden camera, and infiltrating the extreme right-wing groups that are deliberately eroding principles about what is acceptable in public debate, promoting racist ideology and actively seeking to overturn democracy around the world. From joining a shadowy network called the Basketweavers to canvassing for Britain First, Shukman encounters neo-Nazi thugs and antisemitic conspiracy theorists, before uncovering a race science network funded by a US tech CEO and eugenicist sympathisers close to the very heart of our government.

Year of the Rat explores the historical context for these beliefs and looks at the wider European situation, with Shukman travelling to Poland, Tallinn and Greece. With the threat of discovery always looming, what Shukman exposes is chilling, but he writes with real compassion, humanity and humour. This is an urgent and vital read for anyone who wants to understand the current political climate.
  • Published: 8 May 2025
  • ISBN: 9781529957358
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $36.99
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Praise for Year of the Rat

‘This undercover expose of far right extremism in the UK is truly gripping. Unputdownable.’

Otto English

A horribly compelling account… What he exposes is both petrifying and sometimes surprising, and is related with admirable compassion, humanity and even humour

Bookseller

'Anyone who wants to understand British politics has to read this book.'

Grace Blakeley

Compelling… [Shukman] is to be commended for his efforts, which must have taken courage and determination

Observer

[A] courageous and diligent book… a close and gripping inspection of the character of the far right and threat it poses… Shukman’s reporting is bold and assiduous, and provides rare documentary insight

New Statesman

Shukman’s brave delve into the dark recesses of Britain’s Far Right feels especially timely… The strength of Year of the Rat is…the inferences to the shady puppet-masters who continue to shape world politics for the worse

UK Press Syndication

[An] illuminating and disturbing portrait of today’s British far right

Jewish Chronicle
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