Murder City @ Barnes & Nobles
Just finished this book by Charles Bowden. Pretty interesting look into the levels of violence that goes completely unreported and explanations of why it does so. It does a decent job of putting into perspective why shit is so fucked up there and how it's an abysmal venture trying to fix that toilet of a city. Hard to say if its sensationalized a bit, but it made for an interesting read none the less.
<span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-weight: bold">Publisher's Weekly</span></span>
<span style="font-style: italic">Bowden (Some of the Dead Are Still Breathing) grapples with the almost incomprehensible levels of violence in Juárez, Mexico. Over 1,600 people were murdered in Juárez in 2008; almost as many were murdered in the first half of 2009 and countless more have been kidnapped. Bowden tries to explain the escalation in violence, but explanation—even investigation—is impossible: witnesses don't come forward out of fear of the police; the police in turn are terrified of the military and the cartels. The military are apathetic and often complicit in the killing, as is the federal government. Journalists report the scantiest facts; many are paid off, and the rest fear the consequences of telling the truth. In the absence of hard facts, Bowden can offer only an impressionistic account of his own frustration at the collusion of police, media, federal government, and global economic forces in making inexorable violence the defining feature of daily life in the border town. This is a nonfiction book without facts, without a thesis, and without an argument; Bowden's sentences are gorgeous things, euphonious and deeply sincere—but the book offers no understanding or call to action, only resigned acceptance. </span>
Just finished this book by Charles Bowden. Pretty interesting look into the levels of violence that goes completely unreported and explanations of why it does so. It does a decent job of putting into perspective why shit is so fucked up there and how it's an abysmal venture trying to fix that toilet of a city. Hard to say if its sensationalized a bit, but it made for an interesting read none the less.
<span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-weight: bold">Publisher's Weekly</span></span>
<span style="font-style: italic">Bowden (Some of the Dead Are Still Breathing) grapples with the almost incomprehensible levels of violence in Juárez, Mexico. Over 1,600 people were murdered in Juárez in 2008; almost as many were murdered in the first half of 2009 and countless more have been kidnapped. Bowden tries to explain the escalation in violence, but explanation—even investigation—is impossible: witnesses don't come forward out of fear of the police; the police in turn are terrified of the military and the cartels. The military are apathetic and often complicit in the killing, as is the federal government. Journalists report the scantiest facts; many are paid off, and the rest fear the consequences of telling the truth. In the absence of hard facts, Bowden can offer only an impressionistic account of his own frustration at the collusion of police, media, federal government, and global economic forces in making inexorable violence the defining feature of daily life in the border town. This is a nonfiction book without facts, without a thesis, and without an argument; Bowden's sentences are gorgeous things, euphonious and deeply sincere—but the book offers no understanding or call to action, only resigned acceptance. </span>
