Carolyn Nordstrom explores the pathways of global crime in this stunning work of anthropology that has the power to change the way we think about the world. To write this book, she spent three years traveling to hot spots in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the United States investigating the dynamics of illegal trade around the world-from blood diamonds and arms to pharmaceuticals, exotica, and staples like food and oil. Global Outlaws peels away the layers of a vast economy that extends from a war orphan in Angola selling Marlboros on the street to powerful transnational networks reaching across continents and oceans. Nordstrom's extraordinary fieldwork includes interviews with scores of informants, including the smugglers, victims, power elite, and profiteers who populate these economic war zones. Her compelling investigation, showing that the sum total of extra-legal activities represents a significant part of the world's economy, provides a new framework for understanding twenty-first-century economics and economic power. Global Outlaws powerfully reveals the illusions and realities of security in all areas of transport and trade and illuminates many of the difficult ethical problems these extra-legal activities pose.

AcknowledgmentsPrefaceNATIONAL1. The War Orphan2. The Bombed-Out Shop3. Coconuts and Cigarettes: Some Definitions4. The Gov'nor's Red Tractors5. Military Takeovers (Or, How to Own a Country)6. The Untold Story of the Amputees7. Robber BaronsINTERNATIONAL8. The Border Post-a Billion-Dollar Truck Stop (Going International)9. Romancing the Stone: Borders and Businesspeople10. The Washing Machine: Laundering, Part OneGLOBAL11. Diamonds and Fish: Going Global12. Ports13. Drugs14. The Culture of Criminals15. The Culture of Cops16. The World-Port17. The Investment Machine: Laundering, Part Two18. Human CargoHOME19. Post-Terror: Creating (the Illusion of) Security20. ConclusionNotesReferencesIndex