The year 2018. While we in Europe continue to live in a sort of comfort zone, wars rage in other regions of the world, state institutions are collapsing, and millions of people are suffering from hunger. Journalist Wolfgang Bauer has been exploring these fracture zones for years. For his new book, he has compiled some of his most compelling reports: about North Korean ghost ships washing up on the Japanese west coast, about the "Maniac," a serial killer operating in the Russian Volga region, and about the odyssey of Pakistani sailors who fall into the hands of pirates off the Horn of Africa. The volume also contains hopeful stories, such as that of an IT consultant from Minnesota who returns to his Somali homeland to help build a state there. Bauer's reports provide an intimate and comprehensive view of political and social realities.