Benjamin Skinner is the author of the new book A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face With Modern-Day Slavery. He spent the past five years traveling between five continents to infiltrate slave trafficking networks—at times negotiating sales undercover (but never buying human life)—and collecting the searing stories of more than 100 victims.

The point of the book is loud and clear: Slavery is far from dead, and there's not enough being done about it. There are more slaves in the world today than at any other point in history, with estimates ranging from 12 to 27 million, and we're not talking about those laboring for less than a dollar a day in developing countries or choosing to charge thousands for an hour of intimacy. The statistic refers only to those who truly have no choice.

Skinner took time to speak with Caroline E. Winter from his home in Brooklyn about his new book. Read full Interview.