The Beast
Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail
Published on 8. October 2013
224 pages
978-1-78168-501-3 (ISBN)
Description
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Economist & The Financial Times
One day a few years ago, 300 migrants were kidnapped between the remote desert towns of Altar, Mexico, and Sasabe, Arizona. A local priest got 120 released, many with broken ankles and other marks of abuse, but the rest vanished. ¿scar Mart¿nez, a young writer from El Salvador, was in Altar soon after the abduction, and his account of the migrant disappearances is only one of the harrowing stories he garnered from two years spent traveling up and down the migrant trail from Central America and across the US border. More than a quarter of a million Central Americans make this increasingly dangerous journey each year, and each year as many as 20,000 of them are kidnapped.
Mart¿nez writes in powerful, unforgettable prose about clinging to the tops of freight trains; finding respite, work and hardship in shelters and brothels; and riding shotgun with the border patrol. Illustrated with stunning full-color photographs, The Beast is the first book to shed light on the harsh new reality of the migrant trail in the age of the narcotraficantes.
One day a few years ago, 300 migrants were kidnapped between the remote desert towns of Altar, Mexico, and Sasabe, Arizona. A local priest got 120 released, many with broken ankles and other marks of abuse, but the rest vanished. ¿scar Mart¿nez, a young writer from El Salvador, was in Altar soon after the abduction, and his account of the migrant disappearances is only one of the harrowing stories he garnered from two years spent traveling up and down the migrant trail from Central America and across the US border. More than a quarter of a million Central Americans make this increasingly dangerous journey each year, and each year as many as 20,000 of them are kidnapped.
Mart¿nez writes in powerful, unforgettable prose about clinging to the tops of freight trains; finding respite, work and hardship in shelters and brothels; and riding shotgun with the border patrol. Illustrated with stunning full-color photographs, The Beast is the first book to shed light on the harsh new reality of the migrant trail in the age of the narcotraficantes.
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Edition
Ebook UK & RoW
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Reflowable
ISBN-13
978-1-78168-501-3 (9781781685013)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
06/2014
Verso Books
€33.61
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Persons
¿scar Mart¿nez writes for ElFaro.net, the first online newspaper in Latin America. His first book, The Beast, was named one of the best books of the year by the Economist and the Financial Times. In 2008, Mart¿nez won the Fernando Ben¿tez National Journalism Prize in Mexico, and in 2009, he was awarded the Human Rights Prize at the Jos¿ Sime¿n Cäas Central American University in El Salvador.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Foreword: By Francisco Goldman
- Map
- 1. On the Road: Oaxaca
- 2. Here They Rape, There They Kill: Chiapas
- 3. La Bestia: Oaxaca and Veracruz
- 4. The Invisible Slaves: Chiapas
- 5. Kidnappings Don't Matter: Veracruz, Tabasco, Oaxaca
- Photo Insert
- 6. We Are Los Zetas: Tabasco
- 7. Living among Coyotes: To the Rio Grande and Back
- 8. You Are Not Welcome in Tijuana: Baja California
- 9. The Funnel Effect: Baja California and Sonora
- 10. The Narco Demand: Sonora
- 11. Cat and Mouse with the Border Patrol: Arizona
- 12. Ghost Town: Chihuahua
- 13. Juárez, Forbidden City: Chihuahua
- 14. Dying in the Rio Grande: Tamaulipas
- Afterword
