Misha Glenny

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.… (more)

DarkMarket: Cyberthieves, Cybercops and You follows the story of the now-defunct cybercrime forum DarkMarket.

Based on the description my local library provided, I thought this book would be more like [b:American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road|31920777|American Kingpin The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road|Nick Bilton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1578216397l/31920777._SY75_.jpg|52573415] by Nick Bilton - an exploration of the people behind a criminal enterprise and the impacts of the site itself on average people. In other words, I was expecting a book that was more focused on DarkMarket and the case itself, and this book did not meet my expectations.

Glenny writes a fair amount about global cybersecurity practises in this book. I found this to be somewhat tangent to what I thought the focus of the book was: the DarkMarket investigation. For example, an interlude is dedicated to discussing Estonia's cybersecurity practises. I'm still not sure how this is relevant to DarkMarket.

On top of that, Glenny also has a more dry writing style, which made this book even more difficult to read for me.

As to be expected with the subject matter of this book, there is a lot of technical lingo being used. I get the feeling that it's already less technical than similar books and Glenny did a decent job of explaining the concepts. But, the trouble with too much detail is that it can make the book difficult to follow, particularly for the lay reader.

I acknowledge that as a true crime fan who knows nothing about cybersecurity, I'm probably not the right reader for this book. However, if you're more interested and knowledgeable about the technical aspects of cybersecurity, you might want to consider giving this one a read.

For more of my reviews, please visit:
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Trying to understand politics today, it helps to read up on organized crime. In Misha Glenny's mob survey, told in breezy British vernacular, the underworld is truly global, bound up with politics and business. The mob rushes in as the rule of law breaks down, either to take advantage or take over.

This syndicate survey is particularly enlightening about the tandem post-Soviet rise of the Russian mafia, the oligarchy and global finance. But Eastern Europe has no monopoly on brutality, illicit deals and money laundering. There's always someone willing to cut corners or get government out of the way. Ten years after publication, with a British crime drama based on the book, not much has changed.… (more)