Soldiers and Kings
Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling
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- £9.49
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE 2024 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION
A TIME 10 Best Nonfiction Book of 2024 • An NPR Book We Love 2024 • A New York Times Notable Book of 2024 • A Boston Globe Best Book of 2024
“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 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 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 León 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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A work of reportage that might turn any preconceptions you have about human trafficking on their heads, Soldiers and Kings provides a necessary close-up of the ever-growing industry that moves desperate people through Central America. Through on-the-ground reporting, anthropologist Jason De León documents these precarious existences with empathy, using their experiences to explore a billion-dollar industry where the lives of both migrants and smugglers are cheap. De León uses extensive first-person interviews to complicate the perception that human traffickers are inherently villainous, recounting their brutal lives shepherding people through deserts and jungles to show that many are just as desperate as their clients. At the same time, he provides necessary balance by relaying tales from the other side: smugglers extorting, abandoning, and even killing the migrants in their care. Whether you’re interested in another side of the immigration debate or just appreciate stories that upend widely accepted narratives, Soldiers and Kings is an essential read.
