While the Trump administration tried to undermine the book’s release, even seeking to block its publication, these efforts only appeared to draw more attention to it. It’s not often a publisher is called on to cease and desist publication of a book, and it’s even rarer for such a demand to come from one of the most powerful leaders in the world. “Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book,” Trump said of the book’s author, whose exposé he said was “full of lies, misrepresentations, and sources that don’t exist.” The White House, in a separate statement, called the book “trashy tabloid fiction.”

The efforts to keep Fire and Fury off the shelves and its earlier-than-scheduled release have both contributed to its early success. But some overseas observers speculate it would have done just as well without the dramatic prelude. “Given how central the story of Trump’s administration has been to the political conversation—certainly in the West and definitely beyond that as well—I think it’s fair to say that this book is getting a wide hearing ,” Jacob Parakilas, the deputy head of the U.S. and Americas project at the London-based Chatham House, told me. “The commentary in American publications about it, the way it has sort of driven the media narrative, is apparent to audiences far beyond Washington.”

Stories of the book’s release have been featured around the world, with headlines in Arabic, French, and Spanish dedicated to the revelations inside it. And while hard copies of the book have been more difficult to come by due to high demand, illicit versions have started making the rounds online. Wikileaks posted a pirated copy of the book (though it has since been removed), and PDF versions have made their way across more than a dozen countries via the messenger application WhatsApp. An informal Twitter poll by journalist Siddhartha Mitter revealed that of the 1,440 users who were voluntarily polled, just under half reported that the book was being shared in their WhatsApp circles; 16 percent said the book was being shared by other methods.

Overseas interest in the internal workings of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is longstanding under any administration—after all, it’s the address of the most powerful person in the world. But this particular White House has amped up the drama, and with it, the public fascination. As I reported in August, internal shake-ups within the White House, such as the departure of Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon and former communications director Anthony Scaramucci, dominated global headlines in a way that previous presidential staffing decisions would never have done. Several of Trump’s administration officials have become household names around the world. It’s an interest that is rooted just as much in palace intrigue as it is in concern over how what happens in the White House could impact things elsewhere.