Year of the Rat by Harry Shukman

Year of the Rat by Harry Shukman

'Anyone who wants to understand British politics has to read this book.' Grace Blakeley, author of Vulture Capitalism

‘Important and courageous’ James O’Brien

The British far right is working to dismantle our democracy. This shocking, eye-opening first-hand account reveals who they are, how they operate and how they are normalising extreme ideologies including eugenics.

In summer 2024, riots swept England in the biggest wave of far-right violence in the post-war period. But far-right activity takes many other forms as well, all of them dangerous.

Journalist Harry Shukman knows the dangers all too well: he’d gone undercover to infiltrate these groups. For over a year, he carefully attached his hidden lapel camera and pretended to be an extremist named Chris.

We follow Shukman as he hangs out in the pub with a secretive community network, canvasses with political party Britain First and attends a neo-Nazi conference. We meet a circle of Holocaust deniers, a race science organisation with a major Silicon Valley investor and right-wing think tanks supported by Conservative policymakers. What we witness is hard to believe, or stomach.

Year of the Rat is a gripping and urgent exposé – nail-bitingly tense, darkly absurd and utterly chilling. Risking his safety and sanity, Shukman has removed the far right’s terrifyingly everyday mask. Now, we must ensure it stays off.

'Anyone who wants to understand British politics has to read this book' * Grace Blakeley *
‘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 *
Compelling… [Shukman] is to be commended for his efforts, which must have taken courage and determination * Observer *

Harry Shukman is a researcher at HOPE not hate, an anti-fascist organisation. Formerly a journalist, he worked as a news reporter for The Times and then a writer and editor for the Manchester Mill – an investigative online newspaper – and its sister sites in Liverpool and Sheffield.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781784746049
ISBN 10	1784746045
Title	Year of the Rat
Author	Harry Shukman
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Vintage Publishing
Year published	2025-05-08
Number of pages	320
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.