Sayer Ji

Book · Winter 2026

Shadow Empire: The Epstein Files

A documentary investigation built on the Justice Department’s Epstein release. Published by Skyhorse Publishing in partnership with Children’s Health Defense.

The book draws on the nearly 3.5 million pages released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. According to its website, it runs to 34 chapters and every claim is footnoted to a document in the Justice Department’s public archive. It was announced on September 17, 2026, at Children’s Health Defense’s “CHD in DC” conference.

Publisher
Skyhorse Publishing, in partnership with Children’s Health Defense
Release
Winter 2026
Format
Hardcover, $35.00
ISBN
978-1-5107-8913-5
Preorder
shadowempirebook.com lists the retailers
Press
press@shadowempirebook.com

Preorder and free reader’s guide

How the book reads a document

The free reader’s guide, Start Here: 12 documents in the Epstein files, and how to read them yourself, shows the method. Each page puts the document first, then sets two columns beside it: what the document shows, and what it does not establish. The original is linked on justice.gov by its EFTA number.

That second column is the discipline. A forwarded email shows who was on a distribution list; it does not show a reply that was never produced. A redaction is a limit on the claim, not a cue to fill the gap.

Cover of the reader’s guide: Start Here, 12 documents in the Epstein files, and how to read them yourself.
The guide’s cover.
Guide page for Document 01, an email to Jeffrey Epstein’s private account dated February 3, 2012, with columns for what it shows and what it does not establish.
Document 01: an email dated February 3, 2012. The original is EFTA00702570.
Guide page for Document 06, an email from Ian Osborne to Jeffrey Epstein dated December 5, 2012, with the same two-column treatment.
Document 06: an email dated December 5, 2012. The original is EFTA00659281.
Where to read the claims

Quotations, dates and identifiers are in the book and the guide. Posts from the Epstein Files series are collected on the writing page. Disclosure: Children’s Health Defense co-publishes the book; see disclosures.