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Soldiers and Kings
Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling | Jason De Leon
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A work of extraordinary reportage and compassion...[it] will shock you, move you, and leave you changed. Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Evicted and Poverty, by America An enlightening, frightening, unforgettable read. Sandra Cisneros, bestselling author of The House on Mango Street An intense, intimate and first-of-its-kind look at the world of human smuggling in Latin America, by a MacArthur "genius" grant winner and anthropologist with unprecedented access Political 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 smugglersor coyotes, or guides, as they are often known by the migrants who hire their servicesare 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 Len 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 in-depth, character-driven look at human smuggling. It is a heart-wrenching 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 Len expertly chronicles the lives of low-level foot soldiers breaking into the smuggling game, and morally conflicted gang leaders who oversee rag-tag crews of guides and informants along the migrant trail. SOLDIERS AND KINGS is not only a ground-breaking up-close glimpse of a difficult-to-access world, it is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction.
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Nebklvr
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Americans love their heroes to be perfect and their villains to be the worst humanity has to offer. Those who smuggle their fellow man over borders illegally seem to be the worst of villains. I had doubts as to whether the author could make good his promise of portraying complex, often violent, individuals as those who have often been under threat of death, live close to the bone themselves, and at best are survivors of dire circumstance. He did.

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Hooked_on_books
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Anthropologist De León spent years in Mexico, getting to know the stories of those who “guide” undocumented people to the US border. We vilify these people, but we find through his book that they are human beings who are struggling and running from danger at home. This is phenomenal, and I‘m so glad it‘s on the NBA nonfiction short list. It would be a worthy winner.

squirrelbrain Poor Dino! Did he get kicked off the sofa?! 2mo
Hooked_on_books @squirrelbrain He sure did! He gets kicked around, chomped on, and more! It‘s hard being a dino. 2mo
squirrelbrain Henry has a Dino about that size, but his is bright green! 2mo
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