The numbers associated with America’s drug war in Mexico are hard to comprehend: 70,000 lives lost in the last eight years. That’s busloads of people disappearing from highways, gun battles in suburbia, mass graves. That’s more than U.S. fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Nine times over.
Americans seem dimly aware of the horrific violence happening just south of our border, enough to recognize catchwords like “Juarez” and the scandals of Project Gunrunner, but as America turns toward more internal policies, thousands continue to die in Mexico.
As Juarez tries to recover from its years as a battle front, the violence has moved east. Directly across the border from East Texas, two of Mexico’s largest cartels vie for power with incalculable costs to the region and its people. The Gulf Cartel, a group with a history in 1920s Prohibition, and Los Zetas, a brutally violent outfit known for beheadings and torture, kill each other for billions of dollars in drug profit.
In the Shadow of Saint Death, the meticulously researched book by international reporter Michael Deibert, combines five years of interviews with cartel hitmen, law enforcement officials, politicians, truckers, shopkeepers, teachers and children to show the devastating human cost of the war along the border. It’s a book that presents difficult facts, and demands difficult actions.
Check out Michael Deibert’s blog for more information on his coverage of Mexico, Africa, Haiti, and beyond, as well as links to his other published titles, here. Follow him on Twitter here.
And of course buy your copy on B&N, Indiebound, and Amazon!
Early Praise:
In the Shadow of Saint Death is not for the fainthearted. It contains uncomfortable, painful truths about Mexico’s powerful and bloody Gulf Cartel, its origins, and the insatiable U.S. demand for illicit drugs. Richly told, Michael Deibert’s book is a remarkable chronicle of a cartel’s rise and a country’s fall.”—Alfredo Corchado, author of Midnight in Mexico: A Reporter’s Journey Through a Country’s Descent into Darkness
Michael Deibert has to be one of the most courageous journalists working today. He goes to the hardest places—the favelas of Rio, the shantytowns of Port-au-Prince, the killing grounds of central Africa—and comes out with stories no one else gets. Now, with In the Shadow of Saint Death, he turns his unflinching eye on Mexico to explore the horrific price that country has paid for the United States’ failed ‘war on drugs.’ This extraordinary book cuts through the politics and propaganda, straight to the heart of the matter—the lives lost, the profits reaped, and the vast systems on both sides of the border that keep the whole bloody business going.”—Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, winner of the National Book Critics’ Circle Award and finalist for the National Book Award
Praise for Michael Deibert’s previous work:
Notes From the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti
A compelling mix of reportage, memoir, social criticism…Deibert masterfully recounts…wild swings in the republic’s political compass.” — The San Antonio Express-News
A powerfully documented exposé.” — The Miami Herald
The Democratic Republic of Congo: Between Hope and Despair
In this remarkable tour de force of reporting, analysis, historical inquiry, and personal experience, Michael Deibert delivers the story of Congo’s bloody recent history in unflinching, often bitingly acerbic prose, setting forth in the clearest terms the causes, perpetrators, and disastrous effects of the seemingly endless Congo wars.” -Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, winner of the National Book Critics’ Circle Award and finalist for National Book Award
A valuable, angry account of Congo’s difficulties” – The Guardian
Mandatory reading for anyone interested in building lasting peace in the heart of Africa.” – The Institute of Development Studies
A comprehensive first-rate account of the tragedy of Congo…Riveting and brutally honest.” – The Free Africa Foundation
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