Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling | 
pick5 ⭐️ for the content and engaging style.
Very valuable in helping to understand the mechanisms of migration in Latin America. Jason spent 6 years among and studying the culture of human smugglers.
The word “hope” in the subtitle is misleading. It‘s not hope for the crisis ending, it‘s the hope both migrants and many smugglers have of escaping desperate poverty & violence.
Now downloading his first book which is focused on migrants.
34% in and I can tell this is going to be a very memorable and informative book.
Violence is the handmaiden of poverty.
pickDe Leon is an anthropologist who spent years getting to know Honduras smugglers and spotlighting their job, why they do it, how they do it, how the job affects them, relationships to cartels and gangs and so forth. We often look down upon these men, the violence and drugs that surround them, but De Leon saw through these stereotypes and gave an in-depth picture of the whys to it all as the reader gets to know the individuals and their stories.
pickAmericans 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.
pickAnthropologist 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.
