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Table of Contents
About The Book
Who really rules our future?
When Silicon Valley says it is ‘moving fast and breaking things’, the world interprets the chaos as a necessary cost of innovation. Gil Durán reveals something far more sinister: a decades-long campaign to replace elected governments with corporate rule.
Drawing on insider political experience and new investigations, Durán traces this ideology from its philosophical roots in The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. He introduces its modern apostles – Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan and Elon Musk – and shows how the promise of technological liberation has transformed into a global movement for digital feudalism, powered by cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence and the algorithmic propaganda of social media.
The Nerd Reich explains the origins, strategies and ambitions of Silicon Valley’s war on democracy for the first time. From San Francisco’s manipulated elections and secret billionaire projects to the corridors of Downing Street and the White House, Durán exposes how the world’s richest men are building a new political order.
When Silicon Valley says it is ‘moving fast and breaking things’, the world interprets the chaos as a necessary cost of innovation. Gil Durán reveals something far more sinister: a decades-long campaign to replace elected governments with corporate rule.
Drawing on insider political experience and new investigations, Durán traces this ideology from its philosophical roots in The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. He introduces its modern apostles – Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan and Elon Musk – and shows how the promise of technological liberation has transformed into a global movement for digital feudalism, powered by cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence and the algorithmic propaganda of social media.
The Nerd Reich explains the origins, strategies and ambitions of Silicon Valley’s war on democracy for the first time. From San Francisco’s manipulated elections and secret billionaire projects to the corridors of Downing Street and the White House, Durán exposes how the world’s richest men are building a new political order.
About The Author
Photograph by David Fenton
Gil Durán was born in Tulare, California, in 1976. The grandson of Mexican immigrant farmworkers, he got his first taste of work in the fields, but took an interest in journalism after winning the local newspaper’s “My Mom Is the Best” contest in the fifth grade. In the tenth grade, his family moved from California to Kentucky, where he dropped out of high school for a year, then returned and befriended an English teacher who encouraged him to apply to college. He graduated DePauw University in 1998 and started his journalism career at the San Jose Mercury News. As the newspaper industry hit turbulence, he pivoted to politics and spent ten years as an advisor to politicians including Jerry Brown, Dianne Feinstein, and Kamala Harris. In 2018, he returned to journalism as California opinion editor of The Sacramento Bee, and then became editorial page editor of the San Francisco Examiner. Now an independent journalist, he publishes two newsletters: The Nerd Reich, focused on extremist tech politics, and FrameLab, focused on political language.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (August 18, 2026)
- Length: 368 pages
- ISBN13: 9781398555945
Raves and Reviews
'Gil Durán is an essential voice on this technofascist moment – and where it comes from and where we are going'
– Carole Cadwalladr, investigative journalist, The Nerve
'A clear and compelling account of the threats posed by technofascism to democracies everywhere'
– Ruth Ben-Ghiat, historian and author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present
'Reader take note: Gil Durán is a deep, thoughtful and expansive observer of events that shape the current and future of our American democracy'
– George Lakoff, author of The All New Don't Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate
'The Nerd Reich is a clarion warning about the rise of techno-fascist sociopaths who seek to profit off of our collective misery. In clear, compelling and meticulously researched detail, Gil Durán sounds the alarm about this incestuous cabal of broligarchs. He brings the receipts and the righteous rage'
– Wajahat Ali, The Left Hook
Resources and Downloads
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