Chokepoints

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

FT - THE BEST SUMMER BOOKS OF 2025

AN ECONOMIST ‘BEST BOOK OF 2025’

‘Chokepoints is a masterful narrative of US economic warfare in the 21st century.’ Financial Times

‘A timely, riveting world tour … absorbing’ The Economist

‘Chokepoints is a compelling and dramatic narrative about the new shape of geopolitics’ Wall Street Journal

’A gripping, firsthand account. Unparalleled.’ Chris Miller, author of Chip War

It used to be that ravaging another country’s economy required blockading its ports and laying siege to its cities. Now all it takes is a statement posted online by the U.S. government. The global economy is now a weapon of war.

Chokepoints is a thrilling behind-the-scenes account of one of the most pivotal geopolitical shifts of our time. Drawing on extensive research, personal experience and interviews with key players, Edward Fishman, a former top US State Department official, takes us deep into the back rooms of power around the world. Here we meet an eclectic group of innovators: the diplomats, lawyers and financial whizzes who’ve masterminded a fearsome new arsenal of economic weapons, exploiting Western dominance in global finance and technology, and harnessing the power of Wall Street, the City of London and Silicon Valley to confront a rising authoritarian axis.

The sanctions against Russia might be the biggest coordinated act of economic warfare we’ve seen, but it won’t be the last. Control over modern-day chokepoints – such as the US dollar, advanced microchip technology and critical energy supply chains – has become the key to geopolitical power in the twenty-first century. The result is an economic arms race among great powers and a fracturing global economy. Utterly gripping and brimming with rare insight, Chokepoints is indispensable reading to understand the forces that will shape our world for decades to come.

‘This is the must-read book of the month for me: Eddie Fishman’s Chokepoints. Those who write about war and geopolitics for a living are generally poor at economic warfare. This book is a great place to start.’ Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of Money