Audiobooks by Misha Glenny

How To Invent A Country: Nine nations that shaped the world

'Glenny does the sort of history I wish I had been taught at school' Jemima Lewis, The Telegraph Former BBC Central European correspondent Misha Glenny investigates the borders, stories and people of nine countries worldwide, and asks how they acquired the shape and character they have today. Aided by a wealth of expert contributors, he discovers the geographical quirks, Game Of Thrones-style battles and history-changing personalities that have defined each nation - busting some persistent myths and stereotypes along the way. In Germany, Glenny blows away the fog of Nazism to reveal the country's high culture and often feeble past, taking us from the Thirty Years' War to the rise of Prussia and the emergence of a unified nation. Spain chronicles the rise and fall of an empire - from 1492 to 1898, from Columbus to El Desastre - and explores the fractured state of the nation, both in history and now. In Italy, Glenny tells a tale of fragmentation, occupation, unification (and the birth of the Mafia), and expansionist dreams that led to mass Italian bloodshed in the First World War. Brazil sees him stripping away the happy imagery of carnival and beach volleyball to expose a dark colonial history, as he charts the country's transformation from giant factory farm for Europeans to modern BRIC economy. France considers Joan of Arc's part in resisting the English invasion, analyses the French Revolution through Robespierre, and looks at the other Napoleon: Napoleon III, whose defeat ultimately led to two world wars. In The USA, Glenny examines the creation of the most powerful nation in the world, from the Founding Fathers to frontier wars and the melting pot of immigration. In The Netherlands, Glenny explains how the country is much more than just Holland, probes how a few boggy Netherlandish provinces became one of the military and trading heavyweights of the world, and wonders why Belgium exists. And in Britain, he presents the story of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, from Offa's Dyke to Hadrian's Wall via London, Derry and Edinburgh. He delves into England's dominance of the United Kingdom, discusses the significance of our island status, and ponders British identity, asking what binds us - and what divides us. And in Ireland, Glenny learns about Catholics, Protestants and the early seeds of war. This collection also includes three extra series on things that have shaped Europe as much as any nation: The Alps, which divide Europe and swallow up armies, Giuseppe Garibaldi, the legendary Italian general, and The Habsburgs, a family who ruled in Europe for 1,000 years. Written and presented by Misha Glenny Produced by Miles Warde This collection contains: The Invention of Germany The Invention of Italy The Invention of Brazil The Invention of Spain The Invention of France The Invention of the Netherlands The Invention of the USA The Invention of Britain The Invention of Ireland First broadcast BBC Radio 4, October 2011 - March 2019

Misha Glenny (Author), Misha Glenny (Narrator)

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Nemesis: One Man and the Battle for Rio

Nemesis is the story of an ordinary man who became the king of the largest slum in Rio, the head of a drug cartel, and perhaps Brazil's most wanted criminal. It's a gripping tale of gold-hunters and evangelical pastors, bent police and rich-kid addicts, quixotic politicians and drug lords with math degrees. Traversing through rain forests and high-security prisons, filthy slums and glittering shopping malls, this is also the story of how change came to Brazil. Of a country's journey into the global spotlight, and the battle for the beautiful but damned city of Rio, as it struggles to break free from a tangled web of corruption, violence, drugs, and poverty.

Chantal Fernando, Misha Glenny (Author), Bridget Haight, Zach Villa (Narrator)

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Nemesis: One Man and the Battle for Rio

His name was Antonio, but they would call him Nem. From the infamous favela of Rocinha in Rio, he was a hardworking young father forced to make a decision that would turn his world upside down. Nemesis is the story of an ordinary man who became the king of the largest slum in Rio, the head of a drug cartel and perhaps Brazil's most wanted criminal. A man who tried to bring welfare and justice to a playground of gang culture and destitution, while everyone around him drew guns and partied. It's a captivating tale of gold-hunters and evangelical pastors, bent police and rich-kid addicts, quixotic politicians and drug lords with maths degrees. Spanning rainforests and high-security prisons, filthy slums and glittering shopping malls, this is also the story of how change came to Brazil. Of a country's journey into the global spotlight, and the battle for the beautiful but damned city of Rio, as it struggles to break free from a tangled web of corruption, violence, drugs and poverty. With Nem at its centre, locked in a fight for his country's future.

Misha Glenny (Author), Misha Glenny (Narrator)

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The Invention Of Germany

'Germany as we understand it, unified and strong, only came into existence a mere 140 years ago. Before then? Well, there was Bavaria and Prussia, Saxony, Baden Wurttemberg, Pomerania, Westfalia, Schleswig Holstein - this list is extremely long. And defining where one bit ended and the next began - well, it was utterly bewildering.' Misha Glenny presents a three-part history of Germany before the world wars. Starting with the siege of Magdeburg of 1631, she goes on to explore the rise of Prussia - from Frederick the Great in 1740 to humiliation by Napoleon in 1806 - and the coronation of the emperor of the newly unified German empire in 1871 at Versailles. Contributors include Simon Winder, Professor Norman Davies, Dr Abigail Green of Oxford University, and Professor Michael Sturmer, a former advisor to Helmut Kohl. Produced by Miles Warde.

Misha Glenny (Author), Misha Glenny (Narrator)

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DarkMarket

This extraordinarily powerful book demonstrates how utterly we lack the shared supranational tools needed to fight cybercrime. Essential reading.' --Roberto Saviano, author of GommorahThe benefits of living in a digital, globalized society are enormous; so too are the dangers. The world has become a law enforcer's nightmare and every criminal's dream. We bank online; shop online; date, learn, work and live online. But have the institutions that keep us safe on the streets learned to protect us in the burgeoning digital world? Have we become complacent about our personal security sharing our thoughts, beliefs and the details of our daily lives with anyone who might care to relieve us of them? In this fascinating and compelling book, Misha Glenny, author of the international best seller McMafia, explores the three fundamental threats facing us in the twenty-first century: cybercrime, cyberwarfare and cyberindustrial espionage. Governments and the private sector are losing billions of dollars each year fighting an ever-morphing, often invisible and often supersmart new breed of criminal: the hacker. Glenny has traveled and trawled the world. By exploring the rise and fall of the criminal website DarkMarket he has uncovered the most vivid, alarming and illuminating stories. Whether JiLsi or Matrix, Iceman, Master Splynter or Lord Cyric; whether Detective Sergeant Chris Dawson in Scunthorpe, England, or Agent Keith Mularski in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Glenny has tracked down and interviewed all the players the criminals, the geeks, the police, the security experts and the victims and he places everyone and everything in a rich brew of politics, economics and history. The result is simply unputdownable. DarkMarket is authoritative and completely engrossing. It's a must-read for everyone who uses a computer: the essential crime book for our times.From the Hardcover edition.

Misha Glenny (Author), Jonathan Cowley (Narrator)

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DarkMarket: CyberThieves, CyberCops and You

* The benefits of living in a digital, globalised society are enormous; so too are the dangers. * The world has become a law enforcer's nightmare and every criminal's dream. We bank online, shop online, date, learn, work and live online. But have the institutions that keep us safe on the streets learned to protect us in the burgeoning digital world? Have we become complacent about our personal security - sharing our thoughts, beliefs and the details of our daily lives with anyone who cares to relieve us of them? * In this fascinating and compelling book, Misha Glenny, author of the international bestseller McMafia, explores the three fundamental threats facing us in the 21st century: cyber crime, cyber warfare and cyber industrial espionage. Governments and the private sector are losing billions of dollars each year, fighting an ever-morphing, often invisible, often super-smart new breed of criminal: the hacker. * Glenny has travelled and trawled the world. And by exploring the rise and fall of the criminal website, DarkMarket, he has uncovered the most vivid, alarming and illuminating stories. Whether JiLsi or Matrix, Iceman, Master Splynter or Lord Cyric; whether Detective Sergeant Chris Dawson in Scunthorpe or Agent Keith Mularski in Pittsburgh, Glenny has tracked down and interviewed all the players - the criminals, the geeks, the police, the security experts and the victims - and he places everyone and everything in a rich brew of politics, economics and history. * The result is simply unputdownable. DarkMarket is authoritative and completely engrossing. It's a must-read for everyone who uses a computer: the essential crime book for our times.

Misha Glenny (Author), Misha Glenny (Narrator)

Audiobook

McMafia Brain Shot

In this powerful account, Misha Glenny takes us on a journey through the new world of international organised crime. He has travelled throughout the world - from Japan to China to Brazil to the USA and has spoken to countless gangsters, policemen and victims of organised crime while also exploring the ferocious consumer demand for drugs, trafficked women, illegal labour and arms across five continents. McMafia Brain Shot focuses on cybercrime in Brazil and people trafficking from China to Brazil, the UK and Europe and unpicks the nexus of crime, politics and money worldwide which have become entangled and interdependent in entirely novel forms since the 1980s. It argues that conventional policing methods are no longer appropriate to deal with a problem whose roots lie in global poverty and the ever widening divisions between rich and poor. BRAIN SHOTS: The byte-sized account of international crime and globalisation's dark side

Misha Glenny (Author), Matthew Addis (Narrator)

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McMafia

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the deregulation of international financial markets in 1989, governments and entrepreneurs alike became intoxicated by forecasts of limitless expansion into newly open markets. No one would foresee that the greatest success story to arise from these events would be the globalization of organized crime. McMafia is a fearless, encompassing, wholly authoritative investigation of the now proven ability of organized crime worldwide to find and service markets driven by a seemingly insatiable demand for illegal wares. Whether discussing the Russian mafia, Colombian drug cartels, or Chinese labor smugglers, Misha Glenny makes clear how organized crime feeds off the poverty of the developing world, how it exploits new technology in the forms of cybercrime and identity theft, and how both global crime and terror are fueled by an identical source: the triumphant material affluence of the West. To trace the disparate strands of this hydra-like story, Glenny talked to police, victims, politicians, and members of the global underworld in eastern Europe, North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, China, Japan, and India. The story of organized crime's phenomenal, often shocking growth is truly the central political story of our time. McMafia will change the way we look at the world.

Misha Glenny (Author), John Lee (Narrator)

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