McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld

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Misha Glenny, the British journalist and historian who so memorably reported on the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s for the BBC, has written some disturbing books in his time. The Rebirth of History, The Fall of Yugoslavia, The Balkans 1804-1999 -- these superb histories of eastern Europe are inevitably, though not entirely, grim portraits of humanity. Glenny?s latest book, however, may be his most chilling. McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld is a guided tour of organized crime worldwide, from Russia to South America, from China to the Middle East, from Africa to India. From the ends of the earth to where you live, to where we all live. "As consumers, we are all involved," Glenny observes toward the end of his journey. He is not preaching, merely inviting us to peel back the veneer of our everyday life and examine what lies beneath.

"It was the evening of April 30, 1994, and spring had settled on Woking in Surrey," Glenny begins. "s dusk fell on Willow Way?.families sat down for dinner and Saturday night television." At nine o?cl...