- Hardcover: 432 pages
- Publisher: The Bodley Head Ltd; First Edition First Impression edition (3 April 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0224075039
- ISBN-13: 978-0224075039
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.2 x 4.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 39,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
meticulous, dangerous and groundbreaking three-year investigation into the world of international organised crime
--Tribune
`Beg, buy or borrow a copy - just don't steal it'
--Word Magazine
--Tribune
`Beg, buy or borrow a copy - just don't steal it'
--Word Magazine
Sunday Times Culture
`Misha Glenny made his reputation as a BBC reporter during the break-up of the Soviet empire and in the Balkan wars. Those experiences introduced him to the murky, bloody, terrifyingly successful operations of the East European mafias, dominated by Russians. For this book, Glenny has extended his researches worldwide. He describes gang operations in Bombay, sex slavery and money-laundering in Israel, the Canadian marijuana trade, Nigerian investment scams, Brazilian cyber-crime and much else. His message is that the global marketplace has empowered criminals on a huge and terrifying scale.... He tells a grisly story very well'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Living in a 'nice', law abiding country like the UK it's easy to be ignorant of, or turn a blind eye to the darker side of life that most people on earth have to deal with on a day-to-day basis.
My wife is Russian and her family lived through the collapse of the USSR and the period they refer to as 'The Lawless Times' in the early 90s. Speaking to them about it brings home just how tough you had to be to survive back then, and it's no surprise that some people rose to the top to fill the vaccuum left when the forces of law and order collapsed.
Tough people took what they could, weaker people suffered - along with their families. We're now living with the consequences of this collapse and the following rise of criminal gangs to the size multi-national corporations.
This book covers much more than the collapse of the communist states, and shows how the networks of criminality have linked up across continents and become powerful, sophisticated money making machines that thrive on the suffering of others.
Eye opening and a little frightening, this book will change your perspective on the world and will help you understand how the 'nice' countries like ours are the ones that have made these enormous empires possible through things like our demand for recreational drugs and sex with foreign prostitutes.
very well written and highly recommended.
My wife is Russian and her family lived through the collapse of the USSR and the period they refer to as 'The Lawless Times' in the early 90s. Speaking to them about it brings home just how tough you had to be to survive back then, and it's no surprise that some people rose to the top to fill the vaccuum left when the forces of law and order collapsed.
Tough people took what they could, weaker people suffered - along with their families. We're now living with the consequences of this collapse and the following rise of criminal gangs to the size multi-national corporations.
This book covers much more than the collapse of the communist states, and shows how the networks of criminality have linked up across continents and become powerful, sophisticated money making machines that thrive on the suffering of others.
Eye opening and a little frightening, this book will change your perspective on the world and will help you understand how the 'nice' countries like ours are the ones that have made these enormous empires possible through things like our demand for recreational drugs and sex with foreign prostitutes.
very well written and highly recommended.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This a frightening but fascinating book, which brings together the keen-eyed journalism Glenny displayed in the 1990s, with a tale of the kind of organised crime that touches us all, whether we know it or not.
Glenny tours the world, and wisely does not try his hand at thriller-writing as he does so. The stories, and their contexts, are fascinating enough to be simply laid out before us. In each case, the most compelling parts are the history and analysis of how that kind of crime took off, in that place and that time. While there are undercurrents that are common throughout, what stands out starkly are the location and era-specific details of the conditions that allow major crime to flourish. I would have liked to have seen something more about how these national and international crime groups link together; however, given the amount of detail at his disposal, perhaps the author is saving this for his next book.
The level of detail is impressive, and the sources authoritative. Glenny has managed to bring in a tremendous amount of information, without leaving the reader feeling swamped and overwhelmed. The book should be compulsory reading for anyone aspiring to senior levels of government. Because what strikes this reader, is how in each case the myopia, stupidity, connivance and outright greed of governments have created the conditions for organised crime to grow and thrive.
Glenny tours the world, and wisely does not try his hand at thriller-writing as he does so. The stories, and their contexts, are fascinating enough to be simply laid out before us. In each case, the most compelling parts are the history and analysis of how that kind of crime took off, in that place and that time. While there are undercurrents that are common throughout, what stands out starkly are the location and era-specific details of the conditions that allow major crime to flourish. I would have liked to have seen something more about how these national and international crime groups link together; however, given the amount of detail at his disposal, perhaps the author is saving this for his next book.
The level of detail is impressive, and the sources authoritative. Glenny has managed to bring in a tremendous amount of information, without leaving the reader feeling swamped and overwhelmed. The book should be compulsory reading for anyone aspiring to senior levels of government. Because what strikes this reader, is how in each case the myopia, stupidity, connivance and outright greed of governments have created the conditions for organised crime to grow and thrive.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
In McMafia, Misha Glenny meets some of the underworld's villains and scammers and puts a human face to the vast conspiracies which we hear so much about, but ultimately know so little. He is an entertaining, affable guide, a meticulous researcher and, it would appear, a brave journalist. He writes with candour, incisiveness and occasional humour. This is a very different work to his books on the Balkans, but the skills that made them such good books are much in the evidence here as well.
Glenny takes us on a world tour of global crime: from the insidious backstreets of the ex-Soviet bloc, where James Bond-esque baddies lurk in every corner, to Nigeria, Brazil, Japan and China. Although the chapter titles - such as `The Future of Organised Crime' - suggest a thematic approach, it is more geographic than that, which actually makes it all the more readable.
My only problems are with the title - which suggests that the global underworld somehow replicates himself everywhere and is anodyne for it, when Glenny shows that it is not - and the lack of over-arching hypothesis - this isn't a book about the globalisation of crime, we are told at the end, when the preceding 400 pages would suggest that it is.
But as part travelogue, part social history this is nevertheless an excellent read. It is an urgent, compelling book, which I read over only a couple of days and would recommend to anyone with the vaguest interest in organised crime.
Glenny takes us on a world tour of global crime: from the insidious backstreets of the ex-Soviet bloc, where James Bond-esque baddies lurk in every corner, to Nigeria, Brazil, Japan and China. Although the chapter titles - such as `The Future of Organised Crime' - suggest a thematic approach, it is more geographic than that, which actually makes it all the more readable.
My only problems are with the title - which suggests that the global underworld somehow replicates himself everywhere and is anodyne for it, when Glenny shows that it is not - and the lack of over-arching hypothesis - this isn't a book about the globalisation of crime, we are told at the end, when the preceding 400 pages would suggest that it is.
But as part travelogue, part social history this is nevertheless an excellent read. It is an urgent, compelling book, which I read over only a couple of days and would recommend to anyone with the vaguest interest in organised crime.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Title has been changed
This is the same book as "McMafia: Seriously Organised Crime"
by the same author, so dont make my mistake.
by the same author, so dont make my mistake.
Published on 15 Jun 2009 by Najeeb Khan
McMafia
A very denseley written piece of investigative writing. It makes you wonder who hasn't been corrupted and what is the point of the rule of law. Read more
Published on 22 May 2009 by Susan Moss
"Mafia "recent history
This book help us to understand the history of the last twenty yeards, and the events that originate the organized crime. Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2009 by Jose Sampaio
McMafia: Crime without Frontiers
A well written summary of the types of global organised crime. Readable but not definitive.
Published on 1 Feb 2009 by Dr. Ian Oliver
Good, but could have gone deeper
It's a good read. Just wish he had gone a little deeper himself, and not relied so much on previously published material. 3.5 stars!
Published on 25 Jan 2009 by Brian SW
Complex, Compelling and Horrifying, Not to be Missed
In the form of "McMafia", Misha Glenny has written a first-rate book on the world of organised crime. Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2008 by THE Music Enthusiast
Gripping thoughtful read
An eye-opening look at how the globalisation of organised crime effects day-to-day life-whether we like it or not. Read more
Published on 31 Oct 2008 by 1895
Very readable and jampacked full of interesting facts!
I bought this book after reading a serialisation in a paper, and found it a really fascinating read. Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2008 by Orangutan
Not just about the drugs!!
Ok so, like many before me, I guess I have to establish some credentials before I review.......... I have worked both inside and against (at the same time! Read more
Published on 12 Sep 2008 by The March Hare
Indepth Study
Misha Glenny delves deep into organised crime in this study of a post cold-war, globalised world. Indepth and at times utterly fascinating this book covers a wide blanket of... Read more
Published on 14 May 2008 by Paul Holland
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