McMafia

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the deregulation of international financial markets in 1989, governments and entrepreneurs alike became intoxicated by dreams of newly opened markets. But no one could have foreseen that the greatest success story to arise from these events would be the worldwide rise of organized crime. Today, it is estimated that illegal trade accounts for one-fifth of the global GDP. In this fearless and wholly authoritative investigation of the seemingly insatiable demand for illegal wares, veteran reporter Misha Glenny travels across five continents to speak with participants from every level of the global underworldpolice, victims, politicians, and even the criminals themselves. What follows is a groundbreaking, propulsive look at an unprecedented phenomenon from a savvy, street-wise guide. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Misha Glenny is an award-winning journalist and scholar who was educated at Bristol University in England and charles University in Prague. A former BBC central Europe correspondent, he covered the fall of Communism and the wars in the former Yugoslavia. He has contributed to most major news publications in Europe and the United States and is the author of The Rebirth of History: The Fall of Yugoslavia (which won the Overseas Press Club Award in 1993 for Best Book on Foreign Affairs) and The Balkans: Nationalism, War & The Great Powers, 1804-1999. During the 1990s, he was an International Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington and a visiting professor at the London School of Economics. He has also worked as a political consultant in southeastern Europe and is regularly consulted by U.S. and European governments on Balkan issues. Misha Glenny lives in London.