Pick up a newspaper anywhere, any day, and you will find reports of illegal migrants, drug busts, smuggled weapons, laundered money, or counterfeit goods. Illicit trades are booming and so are the traffickers' revenues—and their political influence. Black-market networks are stealthily transforming global politics and economics.

In his new book Illicit, Moisés Naím examines how we got to this dangerous point—and stresses the interconnections between these illegal enterprises, and how they endlessly recombine to breed new lines of business, distort the economy of entire countries and industries, enable terrorists and even take over governments. From pirated movies to weapons of mass destruction, from human organs to endangered species, drugs, or stolen art, Illicit reveals the inner workings of these amazingly efficient international organizations and shows why it is so hard—and so necessary—to contain them. Illicit offers a fresh, ingenious and compelling vision of this untold story of globalization.