Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World

Foreign Policy, Most Anticipated Books of 2024A stunning investigation and indictment of the elements in United States' foreign lobbying industry and the threat they pose to democracy. For years, one group of Americans has worked as foot-soldiers for the most authoritarian regimes around the planet.In the process, they've not only entrenched dictatorships and spread kleptocratic networks, but they've secretly guided U.S. policy without the rest of America even being aware. And now, journalist Casey Michel contends some of them have begun turning their sights on American democracy itself. These Americans are known as foreign lobbyists, and many of them spent years ushering dictatorships directly into the halls of Washington, all while laundering the reputations of the most heinous, repressive regimes in the process.These lobbyists include figures like Ivy Lee, the inventor of the public relations industry - a man who whitewashed Mussolini, opened doors to the Soviets, and advised the Na