Soldiers And Kings

Resumen del libro

An intense, intimate and firstofitskind look at the world of human smuggling in Latin America, by a MacArthur "genius" grant winner and anthropologist with unprecedented accessPolitical instability, poverty, climate change, and the insatiable appetite for cheap labor all fuel clandestine movement across borders. As those borders harden, the demand for smugglers who aid migrants across them increases every year. Yet the real lives and work of smugglers or coyotes, or guides, as they are often known by the migrants who hire their services are only ever reported on from a distance, using tired tropes and stereotypes, often depicted as boogie men and violent warlords. In an effort to better understand this essential yet extralegal billion dollar global industry, internationally recognized anthropologist and expert Jason De León embedded with a group of smugglers moving migrants across Mexico over the course of seven years.The result of this unique and extraordinary access is SOLDIERS AND KINGS: the first ever indepth, characterdriven look at human smuggling. It is a heartwrenching and intimate narrative that revolves around the life and death of one coyote who falls in love and tries to leave smuggling behind. In a powerful, original voice, De León expertly chronicles the lives of lowlevel foot soldiers breaking into the smuggling game, and morally conflicted gang leaders who oversee ragtag crews of guides and informants along the migrant trail. SOLDIERS AND KINGS is not only a groundbreaking upclose glimpse of a difficulttoaccess world, it is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction.