FOR a fascinating journey into the heart of the global shadow economy, who better to travel with than one of the world’s leading field anthropologists, Carolyn Nordstrom. Her book reveals the day-to-day lives of those who depend on and fuel the world’s extensive network of illegal trading, which goes unrecorded by official economic indicators yet is essential to the livelihoods of millions of people.
Nordstrom’s personal approach to this global issue sets her book apart. It starts with her encounter with a homeless boy in a town in Angola, selling foreign cigarettes and old coins on the street to survive. This scene may seem a long…
