In Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling, 2017 MacArthur fellow and anthropologist Jason de León sets out on a journey to humanize smugglers, or coyotes, as they are called by the people who hire their services to migrate from South American countries to Mexico and then, ultimately, to the U.S. For seven years, de León tracked the lives of both migrants crossing the border and the coyotes who shepherded them. He unveils a profoundly intimate account of their world—of the work, the terror, and the human connections made on their treacherous journeys. A National Book Award finalist, Soldiers and Kings seeks to buck the dangerous stereotypes that are often associated with migrants and smugglers, and instead, shows their fully nuanced stories.
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