Soldiers and Kings

Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling

By: Jason De León

Narrated by: Jason De León

WINNER OF THE 2024 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION

A TIME 10 Best Nonfiction Book of 2024 • An NPR Book We Love 2024 • A New York Times Notable Book of 2024 • A Boston Globe Best Book of 2024

“A work of extraordinary reportage and compassion...[it] will shock you, move you, and leave you changed.”
—Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Evicted and Poverty, by America

“An enlightening, frightening, unforgettable read.”
—Sandra Cisneros, bestselling author of The House on Mango Street

An intense, intimate and first-of-its-kind look at the world of human smuggling in Latin America, by a MacArthur "genius" grant winner and anthropologist with unprecedented access

Political instability, poverty, climate change, and the insatiable appetite for cheap labor all fuel clandestine movement across borders. As those borders harden, the demand for smugglers who aid migrants across them increases every year. Yet the real lives and work of smugglers—or coyotes, or guides, as they are often known by the migrants who hire their services—are only ever reported on from a distance, using tired tropes and stereotypes, often depicted as boogie men and violent warlords. In an effort to better understand this essential yet extralegal billion dollar global industry, internationally recognized anthropologist and expert Jason De León embedded with a group of smugglers moving migrants across Mexico over the course of seven years.

The result of this unique and extraordinary access is SOLDIERS AND KINGS: the first ever in-depth, character-driven look at human smuggling. It is a heart-wrenching and intimate narrative that revolves around the life and death of one coyote who falls in love and tries to leave smuggling behind. In a powerful, original voice, De León expertly chronicles the lives of low-level foot soldiers breaking into the smuggling game, and morally conflicted gang leaders who oversee rag-tag crews of guides and informants along the migrant trail. SOLDIERS AND KINGS is not only a ground-breaking up-close glimpse of a difficult-to-access world, it is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction.

Gritty and raw

Gritty and compelling. I dreamt like I came to know the people in this book. A must read for anyone who wants to understand migration and human smuggling.

Non-fiction that readslike a novel

Beautifully presented story about a very timely topic, told with compassion. Well researched and consciousness raising.

Astonishing and moving

Perhaps we need a bit less data and more detailed anthropological depictions of other human beings’ suffering to really understand social issues. This book does that. It brought tears to my eyes and changed my vision.

Searing & beautiful

What a stunner of a book! Incredible immersive research flowed into sharp observations and insights, all of which are rendered with a mix of comprehensive reporting and poetic turn of phrase.

This is a book brimming with heart and compassion, and the author’s reading of his work adds so much to it, and lifts it up even further.

This is a colossal undertaking. So appreciate all the effort that went into the work that became this book.

Important Work on Human Smugglers

I devoured this book in three days. When I want my dog to take medicine, I will often wrap the pill in a piece of meat. Jason de Leon has essentially done this by grounding his ethnographic theoretical framework in a compelling narrative on the forces and social constructs that shape coyotes. You almost forget that it is an academic work at its core. It would be easiest just to say human smugglers are bad and call it a day, but de Leon provides a thoughtful and disturbing portrait of human smugglers and the circumstances shaping them. Like Oliver Twist who was shaped by an ugly society and the Industrial Revolution, guias are simultaneously victims and criminals taking what agency and control they can muster in the face of forces they themselves are struggling to understand. Oliver Twist escaped via the conventions of a fictional world, Kingston, Flaco, and Chino don't have that luxury and for that reason, you should spend a little time getting to know them. We all have some complicity in these forces. Jason de Leon rocks as the narrator especially since the text incorporates a lot of Spanish slang which requires some deftness.