<p>'Gripping' <b>Economist</b><br /> 'Jaw-dropping' <b>Sunday Times</b><br /> 'Riveting' <b>Financial Times</b><br /> 'Fascinating' <b>Reuters</b><br /><br /><b>We are entering an age of energy crises and food shortages. This book reveals why.</b><br /><br />Meet the swashbuckling traders who supply the world with energy, food and metal.<br /><br />Their goal: To make billions by buying and selling raw materials - flogging Russian gas to Europe, Saudi oil to America and Congolese metals to Silicon Valley.<br /><br />Their methods: Whatever it takes - whether funnelling cash to Vladimir Putin's sanction-stricken Kremlin, schmoozing Russian metal oligarchs after the collapse of the Soviet Union, or striking deals with the Libyan rebels at the height of the Arab Spring.<br /><br />These are the commodity traders. You've probably never heard of them. But, like it or not, you're one of their customers.<br /><br /><b>*Financial Times and Economist Book of the Year*</b><br /><b>*Shortlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award*<br /> </b><br /> 'Shows how much money and global influence is concentrated in the hands of a tiny group . . . Remarkable . . . As the authors roam from oilfield to wheatfield, they reveal information so staggering you almost gasp' <b>Sunday Times</b><br /><br /> 'A globe-spanning corporate thriller, full of intrigue and double dealing . . . Changes how we see the world, often in horrifying ways' <b>Spectator</b><br /><br /> 'A rich archive of ripping yarns . . . The high level narrative is gripping enough. But it is the details of what these freewheeling companies actually got up to that give the book a thriller-like quality' <b>Financial Times</b><br /><br /> 'Some of the stories could be straight out of John le Carré. The difference is they're true' <b>Andrew Neil</b></p>