Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields

Description

Ciudad Jurez lies just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. A once-thriving border town, it now resembles a failed state. Infamously known as the place where women disappear, its murder rate exceeds that of Baghdad or Mogadishu. In Murder City, Charles Bowden has written an extraordinary account of what happens when a city disintegrates. Interweaving stories of its inhabitantsa raped beauty queen, a repentant hit man, a journalist fleeing for his lifewith a broader meditation on the towns descent into anarchy, Bowden reveals how Jurezs culture of violence will not only worsen but inevitably spread north.

Charles Bowden is a contributing editor for GQ and Mother Jones; he also writes for Harper's, the New York Times Book Review, and Esquire. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.