Skip to product information
1 of 1

Viking

Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling

Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling

Regular price $36.23 USD
Regular price Sale price $36.23 USD
Sale Sold out
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Format

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

“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, but it is also a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction.

ISBN: 0593298586    EAN: 9780593298589
Author: Jason De León
Publisher: Viking  
Binding: Hardcover
Pub Date: March 19, 2024
Physical Info: 1.5" H x 9.0" L x 6.2" W (1.3 lbs) 400 pages
This item is Returnable
About The Author:
Jason De León is a professor of Anthropology and Chicana/o Studies and director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is also executive director of the Undocumented Migration Project, a 501(c)(3) research, arts, and education collective that seeks to raise awareness about migration issues globally while also assisting families of missing migrants to reunite with their loved ones. He is a 2017 MacArthur Foundation Fellow and author of the award-winning book The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail.
View full details