Customer Reviews
Gripping thoughtful read - By: 1895, 31 Oct 2008 
An eye-opening look at how the globalisation of organised crime effects day-to-day life-whether we like it or not.
The timing of the liberalistion of the international financial markets & the coincidental collapse of communismin central & eastern Europe & the USSR means that the face of crime has changed for ever.
And as the author points out, so long as the profits are so big & demands for illegal products so high, no amount of policing can ever stamp it out. In fact, the more resources pouredin to the "War on Crime", the bigger organised crime becomes......
Very readable and jampacked full of interesting facts! - By: Orangutan, 28 Sep 2008 I bought this book after reading a serialisationin a paper, & found it a really fascinating read. Everything from prostitution to guns to drugs to cyber crime to diamonds to people trafficking is coveredin a wide ranging examination of the globalised nature of the black market, & its enormous influence on society & politics.
Not just about the drugs!! - By: The March Hare, 12 Sep 2008 
Ok so, like many before me, I guess I have to establish some credentials before I review.......... I have worked both inside & against (at the same time!) much of the murky world chronicled by Glenny & would consider it a pretty good outsiders account of most aspects. It creates a very good spring board for the inquisitive but will unfortunately be missed by the general masses for any real impact.
However, I have to contradict a previous reviewer (or two)in that drugs is not the main driver/funder for criminal activity these days, nor does Glenny susbscribe to this misdirection. The various major criminal groupings are more than savvy enough to have long established their own intelligence & corporate networks; these devices shrewdly keep them one step ahead of the game & dictate which commodity, because yes dear reader it is big business we are talking about here, is likely to attract the least law-enforcement scrutiny, minimum sentencing if caught and, last but by no means least, the maximum profitin individual countries that they traffick to or through.
Currently, people trafficking & smuggling (there is a distinct difference!) is top of the charts; a "re-usable" commodity, easily dispatched with very low overheads & the bonus of minimal risk through comparatively minimal prosecutions.
Do my "fellow" reviewers therefore consider that we legalise slavery, of primarily women & children with smattering of menfolk, & all that this vile trade & it's sub-trades entailin the modern world quite so glibly as they do the legalisation of drugs from their false, & dare I say naive, deductions?
Scary but true... - By: bloodsimple, 11 Jun 2008 This a frightening but fascinating book, which brings together the keen-eyed journalism Glenny displayedin 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, & wisely does not try his hand at thriller-writing as he does so. The stories, & their contexts, are fascinating enough to be simply laid out before us. In each case, the most compelling parts are the history & analysis of how that kind of crime took off,in that place & that time. While there are undercurrents that are common throughout, what stands out starkly are the location & 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 & 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, & the sources authoritative. Glenny has managed to bringin a tremendous amount of information, without leaving the reader feeling swamped & overwhelmed. The book should be compulsory reading for anyone aspiring to senior levels of government. Because what strikes this reader, is howin each case the myopia, stupidity, connivance & outright greed of governments have created the conditions for organised crime to grow & thrive.
Indepth Study - By: Paul Holland, 14 May 2008 Misha Glenny delves deep into organised crimein this study of a post cold-war, globalised world. Indepth & at times utterly fascinating this book covers a wide blanket of criminals from the Balkans to India, from Colombia to Russia & beyond.
However the linkage between each criminal group is not evident & there is not a significant coherant argument concerning globalisation. On one hand he appears to advocate the legalisation of all drugs whilst on the other going into great detail concerning tobacco smuggling & counterfeiting & the negative effects this causes.
The pace is at times frantic & it is sometimes hard to keep up with the various names of individuals & groups which at times gives the book a disjointed feel.
However overall this is an incredibly well researched, valuable modern social history.
