We all need stories. They are the reason society can thrive at all. But what happens when stories are hijacked by those in power?

Politicians around the world are weaving their own heroic fictions – the strongmen, the apparently enlightened, apparently liberal reformers, the smiling kings and autocrats, the proud defenders of bygone empires. Used properly, they can act as a glue to bind us to one another as a community. But some citizens don't fit the mould, and others are willing to risk their lives to tell a different story altogether... 

Based on decades of on the ground reporting across four continents, acclaimed Financial Times journalist Michael Peel reveals the invisible threads connecting politics worldwide, exploding the myth that the West is doing any better.