Imatge de l'autor

Misha Glenny

Autor/a de McMafia: Crime without Frontiers

18+ obres 2,680 Membres 43 Ressenyes 3 preferits

Sobre l'autor

Inclou aquests noms: Misha Gleen, Misha Glenny, Mischa Glenny

Obres de Misha Glenny

Obres associades

El Pont sobre el Drina (1959) — Introducció, algunes edicions2,353 exemplars
Belgrade Noir (2020) — Col·laborador — 25 exemplars

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In his very reader-friendly manner Misha Glenny ( of McMafia and Brazilian underworld fame to name the few books by the same author) guides us through Internet underworld and introduces creators of sites for enticing and (this is something I found very interesting) support and mediation for various criminal activities.

Along the way we also meet law enforcement agencies who are chasing down criminals but don't cooperate, intelligence agencies utilizing same criminals for their own purposes, police officers blocked by bureaucracy and forced to act on their own [as they say in some cases it is better to ask forgiveness than permission] and security people that get chased down by their own agencies because you cannot trust anyone on the net and rumor can put the person in prison in no time.

Very interesting chapters linked to Turkey were a little bit down-played by the author. Considering entire schizophrenia and complete paranoia that rules the Internet [and especially shady parts of network] it is sometimes very difficult to discern lies and outright fantasies from the actual facts. And then I guess it is better to keep tone down.

Some readers said that writing style was condescending and/or long-winded. I did not have that experience. Everything presented is not given from the expert point of view. Misha Glenny is investigative journalist and it shows [in a good way], he knows a lot about a lot of things but does not use buzz words to let everyone know how smart he is. He lets experts speak through interviews and builds his story from there while making materiel understandable and available to everyone.

Highly recommended to all interested in current politics, crime-fighting and in general how technology changes our lives in not always good ways.
… (més)
 
Marcat
Zare | Hi ha 10 ressenyes més | Jan 23, 2024 |
This one is a good book on organized crime that looks like it lost its direction somewhere in the middle of the story. Or maybe author just did not know how to present all of the information he came across.

Author tells a very frightening story of Rio's favelas, how they came to be and how they evolved into ghetto's used by politicians of Rio as nothing more than voting sources. As such they proved to be a very suitable areas for gangsters of all kinds - due to high turn over rate of various criminal kingpins it is expected that some of them would be socially aware, something like Robin-Hood-look-a-likes. And true some of them actually had social plans and assisted their own comunities. Of course they continue selling guns, drugs etc to other favelas and parts of Rio but not in their own. State has no footprint here and what presence is there it is heavily corrupted - they basically act as just another gang.

But then author loses a story direction a bit. By telling the story of Antonio, Nem of Rocinha favela, he tries to tell the story of a man who becomes gangster by turn of events and not by his own choice. He is the kingpin of Rocinha favela, one that helps his people but as story goes on it gets lost that he is for all intents and purposes a gangster, cartel kingpin heavily involved in drug and gun trade. And this is where book loses the momentum. If humane side of Nem could have been given differently with point on social effect favelas have on their inhabitants - due both the internal (basically wild west environment without presence of [true] law enforcement, extremely poor communities) and external factors (treatment by other, richer, parts of city as something to be destroyed and removed to get access to the land for building and expansion and left at mercy of corrupted state officials) - this would be a much better book.

In any case for anyone interested in urban crime, urban development and social seggregation in modern metropolis this is highly recommended.
… (més)
 
Marcat
Zare | Hi ha 4 ressenyes més | Jan 23, 2024 |
3 and a half stars. Badly needs pictures.
 
Marcat
graeme.bell3 | Hi ha 7 ressenyes més | Aug 2, 2023 |
Bună și în general la nivelul istoric optim între entry level (popularizare simplistă) și academic-universitar. Adică fix potrivită pentru a fi citită cu plăcere (nu stil curs) dar și interes (suficientă noutate și profunzime). Foarte bine echilibrată și ca "judecată morală", ceva extrem de greu într-un spațiu unde întotdeauna eroii unora sunt criminalii altora.
Cantitate mare de informații bine structurate, bine echilibrate între istoria mică (indivizi) și cea mare (curente naționale și regionale).
Ca minusuri: inerent e și uneori plictisitoare pe termen lung (are 800 pag); e dezechilibrată între popoare (e de fapt o istorie a sârbilor; secundar turci bulgari, mult mai puțin albanezi, români, greci) și secole (e de fapt o istorie a sec. XIX până la ww1, sec. XX fiind mult mai fugar tratat , cu ww2 de-a dreptul pe fugă, iar războaiele iugoslave mai deloc).
Per total recomandabilă, dar de citit cu pauze.
… (més)
 
Marcat
milosdumbraci | May 5, 2023 |

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Obres
18
També de
2
Membres
2,680
Popularitat
#9,583
Valoració
4.0
Ressenyes
43
ISBN
119
Llengües
12
Preferit
3

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