Homo Criminalis
  • Published: 7 September 2025
  • ISBN: 9781529148220
  • Imprint: Ebury Press
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $60.00

Homo Criminalis

How crime organises the world

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
12 Aug 2025
Hardback
7 Sep 2025
EBook
7 Aug 2025
Audiobook
7 Aug 2025
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A witty whistle-stop tour through organised crime across the centuries, by acclaimed historian and journalist Mark Galeotti, exploring how the underworld shapes our overworld, perfect for fans of Otto English.

When does a bandit become a monarch? When does a gang become a government? And is organised crime at the heart of every modern state?

On a thrilling whistle-stop tour of how the world's criminal underbelly has shaped state-making, capitalism, globalisation and all forms of so-called legitimate power, Homo Criminalis shows the emergence of modern society through the evolution of the underworld and its crimes. From Chinese banditry and eighteenth-century English tea smuggling to today's cocaine submarines and the high-tech crimes of tomorrow, this book shows us how the world's dark underbelly shapes us, no matter how we try to outpace it.

Entertaining, engaging and packed full of fascinating stories, Homo Criminalis is a book for those who want to see our grand story of progress through the surprising and subversive new lens of organised crime.
  • Published: 7 September 2025
  • ISBN: 9781529148220
  • Imprint: Ebury Press
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $60.00
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About the author

Mark Galeotti

Professor Mark Galeotti is one of the foremost Russia-watchers today, who travels there regularly to teach, lecture, talk to his contacts, and generally watch the unfolding story of the Putin era. Based in London, he is Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Institute of International Relations Prague, having previously headed its Centre for European Security, and was before then Professor of Global Affairs at NYU. A prolific author on Russia and security affairs, he frequently acts as consultant to various government, commercial and law-enforcement agencies.

Also by Mark Galeotti

We Need to Talk About Putin
Downfall
A Short History of Russia
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Praise for Homo Criminalis

One of the most astute political commentators on Putin and modern Russia

Financial Times

From medieval bandits to modern mafias, Homo Criminalis takes us on a fast-paced journey through the underworlds that have shaped our upperworld. Combining captivating storytelling with incisive analysis, Galeotti's sweeping global history makes a compelling case that to truly understand how the world works we must understand the criminals who've helped create it.

Peter Andreas, author of The Illicit Global Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know