Mark Young, sentenced to life imprisonment in Indiana for involvement in the trafficking of marijuana, Reuben Sturman, an unpunished porn magnate, strawberry pickers in California, the new slaves (immigrants) of the global economy. And then the life of the ordinary citizen, free to buy fruit picked by child labour or download porn from the Internet.

This book explores wealth created in the shadows, the underground economy, the grey area of “black work” and illegal trading. Schlosser paints a very clear picture of the borderland between legality and illegality. Looked at closely, the line is far thinner than it looks at first sight or than we would like to believe it is.

Interestingly, Schosser is talking about the US domestic market. Here in the land of hope and opportunity for everyone, the underground economy not only exists but apparently accounts for over a tenth of the nation’s wealth, and is expanding.