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janbo's review
4.0
An interesting investigation into the global trade in human parts and whole people, especially children.
While I was intrigued by the macabre nature of the topic and the rare insight into illegal operations seldomly discussed in public, I would have liked more investigative journalism and a deeper analysis of the overall data with less focus on individual anecdotes.
While I was intrigued by the macabre nature of the topic and the rare insight into illegal operations seldomly discussed in public, I would have liked more investigative journalism and a deeper analysis of the overall data with less focus on individual anecdotes.
sevenlefts's review
4.0
Carney makes the point in this book that all of us are or know someone who is involved in the global red market -- giving or receiving blood and organs, benefiting from human drug trials, seeing doctors who have trained with human corpses and skeletons, adopting children. In this short book (any chapter of which could have been expanded into it's own book, I think), he looks at the forces that drive these markets and asks the reader to face the sometimes harrowing stories behind them.
The opening chapter takes place in India, where, as a leader of a student group, Carney has to make a series of uncomfortable decisions after a horrific incident. The surrounding events introduce him to the various ways that human body and body parts -- and the people they belong to -- are marketed, stolen, exported, and otherwise exploited. Many of the markets described in the book are active in India, because of the high levels of poverty and lax regulation, but Carney investigates red markets all over the world, including blood and organ procurement, human egg donation and implantation, child "adoption," skeletons for anatomical study, international surrogacy, drug testing, and others.
Carney makes several excellent points -- notably, that neither a solely market-driven system nor a wholly altruistic system works for any of these markets (with the exception of hair extensions shorn from Indiana religious pilgrims!). He makes a strong case for complete transparency in all red markets, with the donor and receiver clearly identifiable. He also forces us to face the fact that the benefits of red markets always float upward economically, never downward. Carney describes several cases of children being kidnapped in India and basically sold into adoption in the west. Can you imagine the uproar if a child from the U.S. were sold into adoption in India?
A small book that gives you much to think about.
The opening chapter takes place in India, where, as a leader of a student group, Carney has to make a series of uncomfortable decisions after a horrific incident. The surrounding events introduce him to the various ways that human body and body parts -- and the people they belong to -- are marketed, stolen, exported, and otherwise exploited. Many of the markets described in the book are active in India, because of the high levels of poverty and lax regulation, but Carney investigates red markets all over the world, including blood and organ procurement, human egg donation and implantation, child "adoption," skeletons for anatomical study, international surrogacy, drug testing, and others.
Carney makes several excellent points -- notably, that neither a solely market-driven system nor a wholly altruistic system works for any of these markets (with the exception of hair extensions shorn from Indiana religious pilgrims!). He makes a strong case for complete transparency in all red markets, with the donor and receiver clearly identifiable. He also forces us to face the fact that the benefits of red markets always float upward economically, never downward. Carney describes several cases of children being kidnapped in India and basically sold into adoption in the west. Can you imagine the uproar if a child from the U.S. were sold into adoption in India?
A small book that gives you much to think about.
carriedoodledoo's review
5.0
This is an important book--of all the illicit trades in the world I think this is the least talked about. More than the Hollywood faux-glamour of drugs and prostitution and arms deals, this is ugly and hits on the nerve that freaks us out whenever we talk about body parts and children in vulnerable situations.
alexandrabree's review
4.0
This book was a wonderful introduction into the world of 'Red Markets', I was hoping for some more dramatic and seedy stories.
There were a lot of difficult stories and ambitious morals, but we were talking about the coercive practices of harvesting kidneys from the destitue and deviststingly poor. What was described as a grey zone.
Not the black market, being kidnapped in a taxi cab and cut open and dumped in front of some hospital or left in a bathtub. The sensationalism is morbid but also enticing to me (terrible but true), would totally recommend, but also, there are so many amazing podcasts on this topic that probe just that much deeper and more graphic.
There were a lot of difficult stories and ambitious morals, but we were talking about the coercive practices of harvesting kidneys from the destitue and deviststingly poor. What was described as a grey zone.
Not the black market, being kidnapped in a taxi cab and cut open and dumped in front of some hospital or left in a bathtub. The sensationalism is morbid but also enticing to me (terrible but true), would totally recommend, but also, there are so many amazing podcasts on this topic that probe just that much deeper and more graphic.
ancoetsu's review
4.0
scott carney is clearly a brave soul. he is the champion of many who are adversely affected by the scandals that plague the red market. the book sheds light on the little, or sometimes entirely, unknown aspects of the red market. the picture in the afterword speaks volumes and drove the whole feel of the book home. a must read for those who think they fight the good fight and those who turn the other cheek.