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.

Vivid characters with tragic backstories.

I enjoyed this deep dive into the culture and backstories of today’s smugglers of human beings from Central America to the US border. Overly long dialog, paragraphs, of supposed perspectives expressed by his research subjects, seemed a bit contrived to me. Did the author record these conversations in full and translate them vs re-create them from memory. I became impatient listening to these sections . Nonetheless the author painted vivid pictures of these characters’ idiosyncrasies as well as the brutal and violent childhood histories that launched their career paths.