Description: A myth-busting, 100-year history of the Mexican drug trade that reveals how an industry founded by farmers and village healers became dominated by cartels and kingpins.
Brief description: Benjamin T. Smith is one of the foremost historians of modern Mexico. A professor at the University of Warwick, his previous books have explored politics, violence, Catholicism, and journalism in modern Mexico. He also provides expert witness accounts for Mexican asylum seekers escaping gang violence.
Review Quotes: [A] prodigious overview...a century-long chronicle crammed with as much violence and mayhem as a Don Winslow border novel.--Anthony DePalma "New York Times Book Review"