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Book Description
Ciudad Juárez lies just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. A once-thriving border town, it now resembles a failed state. Infamously known as the place where women disappear, its murder rate exceeds that of Baghdad. Last year 1,607 people were killed—a number that is on pace to increase in 2009.
In Murder City, Charles Bowden—one of the few journalists who has spent extended periods of time in Juárez—has written an extraordinary account of what happens when a city disintegrates. Interweaving stories of its inhabitants—a raped beauty queen, a repentant hitman, a journalist fleeing for his life—with a broader meditation on the town’s descent into anarchy, Bowden reveals how Juárez’s culture of violence will not only worsen, but inevitably spread north.
Heartbreaking, disturbing, and unforgettable, Murder City establishes Bowden as one of our leading writers working at the height of his powers.
About the Author
Charles Bowden, the recipient of a Lannan Literary Award and the Sidney Hillman Award, is the critically acclaimed author of numerous books, including Down by the River and Some of the Dead Are Still Breathing. He is a contributing editor for GQ and Mother Jones, and also writes for Harper-s, the New York Times Book Review, Esquire, and Aperture. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
murder city : ciudad juarez...,
By Mexico Friend (London, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields (Hardcover)
If a person had never been to Mexico he probably would never want to go there after reading this book. It provides first-hand accounts of lawlessness in the streets and corruption in every level of law enforcement. At times the author seems to imply that conditions are the same throughout the country, but in fact the incidents described and background information provided nearly all apply to northern Mexico, especially the city of Ciudad Juarez, near El Paso, Texas and does not address the rest of the country. The seemingly endless atrocities documented in the book are distressing to the reader, but probably the author is simply attempting to impart something of the seemingly endless horrors that actually occur daily. This book shows that while drugs and drug profits are a huge part of the problem in the city, these problems have their roots abject poverty. The fundamental causes of deprivation and hopelessness that gave rise to the drug culture appear to be traceable back to NAFTA and to the fact that factories, built by American companies to attract cheap Mexican labor, have now been moved to another continent where labor is cheaper yet. People are desperate, so growing, transporting, selling of drugs are now sometimes are the only conceivable consolation or means of making any kind of a living. One important realization that arises from this book is that what is happening in Ciudad Juarez could occur anywhere there is such dispair and deep poverty.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting and bleak,
By Mac (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields (Paperback)
An almost prose-like rhythm to the catalogue of death laid out by the author. A seemingly irrational thread is the only thing linking together normal life and the vast amount of killings that take place. The author, in his research, attempts to understand and find his place in all that he is observing and experiencing, and struggles, based on the completely different set of values and social contracts that are in place to support the psychotic and sociopath behaviour of the Juarez residents. People attempt to find solace in God, in daily routines, even in the system that consistently lies to them and lets them down. The usual meanings don't count. The usual expectations don't count. In Juarez, little counts. And even less matters. Except for the vast sums of money available to those who choose to pursue a life working for the cartels...and even that is fleeting, temporary and meaningless.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.4 out of 5 stars (47 customer reviews) 82 of 85 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A vitally important but disturbing book,
By D. E. Ford - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields (Hardcover)
If the angels ever visited Juarez looking for the proverbial one good man, I'm afraid they'd either be kidnapped, murdered, or probably both before their search was over.In his dark, non-fiction novel, Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields, Charles Bowden takes you by the hand and gives a guided tour of one of the lower hells that's just across the border from El Paso, Texas. On your journey through this third-world dystopia, you travel to an impoverished insane asylum out in the desert ran by El Pastor, who collects from the streets of Juarez those whose lives were shattered by torture, drugs, gang rape, and a host of other horrors. From there you'll visit the "death houses" where underneath floors and patios the anonymous dead wait to be found. You'll cruise the streets at dawn to find the bodies bound with silver and gray duct tape at hands, feet, and mouth, deposited the night before. You'll also meet a sicario, an assassin, who speaks of his childhood, his time in the Mexican state police and the FBI academy, and finally his plunge into "the life" where he has since racked up over 250 murders becoming a highly sought after "murder artist". At each point on your journey, Bowden stops and makes you look, he makes you bear witness as he has done for almost 20 years, to the unacknowledged, unreported disintegration of not only a city, but of an entire country. From the nearly ubiquitous corruption in all branches of the Mexican government, military, and police forces to the members of drug cartels living like kings surrounded by grinding poverty to American factories paying starvation wages, Bowden drags it all into the light for us to see. This book does not pull any punches: While Murder City is a vital, important work, it's also a dark and disturbing read. But throughout it rings true. Charles Bowden has opened my eyes to a world I could never have imagined prior to reading Murder City. Take the ride. 41 of 45 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling and worthwhile,
By CrazyCat Lady - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields (Hardcover)
At the time I am writing this, there was only one other review, which gave the book a two-star rating. After finishing the Kindle edition,I have to say that I feel the other rating is unfair. At first I agreed with the other reviewer- and I had really wanted to like this book, after hearing a very moving interview with the author on NPR. The narrative in the beginning feels disjointed, and I found the constant references to "Miss Sinaloa" to be annoying. But stay with it, the book draws you in. As I read farther, I really began to understand how "Miss Sinaloa" is a metaphor for the City; she is beautiful, but insane and terribly damaged. And, in the end, the Author's imagining of an "Our Town" type play with the Sinaloa murder vicims as characters moved me to tears. I don't know if all the readers will agree with the author about some of the underlying reasons for the murders, but the book is interesting, provacitive- and worth reading.
28 of 31 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
AMAZING AND TERRIFYING!!!,
By Jon M. Lennon "CheeseLordComics" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields (Hardcover)
Wow Mr Bowden's book floored me, I couldn't put the thing down I finished it in about 3 days. I imagine some people will have problems with Bowden's style, he writes about his experiences in a non-linear way sometimes repeating small fragments I believe the style reinforces the chaotic life he experienced in Juarez. Instead of trying to give us the who's who of cartels and connections Bowden's premise is that the killings are illustrative not of a break down of society but of a new form largely without rhyme or reason. This book is about the future and the ability of people to live with the world collapsing around them. Excellent highly reccomended!
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