Murder City

Ciudad Juarez and The Global Economy's New Killing Fields

By: Charles Bowden

Narrated by: Charles Bowden

Charles Bowden writes, “this book is not about how the world ends but how a new world is being born.” Murder City explores this new world, focusing on the idea that Mexico is collapsing into a permanent culture of violence. Bowden focuses on Ciudad Juarez, which lies just across the Rio Grande from El Paso. Infamously known as the place where women disappear, last year alone 1,607 people were murdered, a number that is set to accelerate in 2009.

Miss Sinaloa is a beauty queen who loses her mind; her descent into madness becomes a parable for the town itself. As Bowden searches for reasons to explain why so many are dying, he realizes that what is happening in Juarez and other border towns—caught in the crosshairs of the drug and immigration wars—represents the total collapse of civic society.

©2010 Charles Bowden (P)2010 Phoenix Books

Critic reviews

"Bowden calls himself a reporter, and in a pure sense of the word he really is one. He is also an authentic talent.” (The New York Times Book Review)

A Good Primer for Any Reader

I enjoyed this book by Charles Bowden, who also narrated it.
He describes the story in his factual, monotone voice, so it's important to get engaged in the story, listen closely, or you may miss key pieces of the book.
This may be on purpose by Bowden, to illustrate the casual savagery, lack of law enforcement, American involvement and Mexican government interests which exists in Juarez.
I found I had to go back over parts to catch back up on the story, as it sometime is a little difficult to stay on top of it, with the slow, unchanging pitch in narration.
However, Bowden's account of the conditions in Juarez are chilling, and his first person description is even more credible. He describes the lawlessness of a city under siege from a citizen's perspective, having interviewed and spent time with innocents living in this city during the writing of this book.
He uses the experiences of real people, for example, Miss Sinaloa, a beauty queen abducted by a Mexican drug cartel and eventually freed only to be placed in a mental institution, as a backdrop to his story. He educates us on the rise of the Mexican cartels, the power and pure brutality which they possess, and the influence on authority and government which allows free range activity south of the border in Juarez.
This book is somewhat of a primer and close-up look into the changing political landscape which includes now includes the drug cartels as a financial power base in Mexico. Its an interesting listen and will bring anybody who reads it up to speed on a situation in Mexico which has escalated in notoriety and presence over the last 7 years.
I would recommend it to readers interested in this topic.

Love Bowden

I WISH THEY WOULD PUT HIS BOOK “DOWN BY THE RIVER…” UP HERE. SURPRISED THEY DON’T HAVE IT.

Charles Bowden is the Man

Absolutely beautifully written and narrated. Descriptive and educating, as well as dark and unfiltered. Charles Bowden is the real deal and it shows--he's done his homework on this subject and not on a computer, on los calles of ciudad Juarez. He explores the dark alleys, talks to people on all sides on the violence, and knows the history of Mexico and the US, as well as 'the war on drugs', extremely well. He is an authority on this gruesome topic, and weaves this story with such articulate vision that you can imagine every scene. I am just about done with the book and very bummed about it. One of my favs for sure. Would love to meet him someday and talk about his book.

America’s future In a nutshell....reap what we sow.

This book was haunting, it was devastatingly sad, and at the end simply beautiful. Right after I finished the book, i searched Juarez and cartel crimes in the US. I came across illegals from Juarez running a hime invasion crew in Milwaukee. They shot up the streets, killed, and maimed people. Then I saw a similar story in Juarez, daily murder and mayhem at industrial scale .
This book predicts the violence thats taking place now here in America. This book establishes how lack of morality, decency, and love breaks down a society. To the conservative in the US - I say, you are a hypocrite for only paying lip service to your beliefs, you are a hypocrite for your racist ideas and lack of conviction in God. To the liberals I say, you are the breeding ground for evil, for you lack the same beliefs and conviction but worse you enable indignity by perpetuating weakness.

Ciudad Juarez is a place where only wolves survive, they eat ppl, communities, love, families, all that is good. Bowden strips down any falsehoods, any hopes for a good ending, he simply delivers the bad news. Essentially declaring that wolves and sheep eat the same sin, they are complicit in carrying out organized slaughter at the expense of their own souls.

Time is near in the US where similar forces will commit same atrocities, where belief will be hard to come by. When all you’ll hold dear is the breath in your lungs and the clothes on your back, where your future is far less guaranteed.

Makes a thinking person wonder 'Who will be next?'

I found this to be a very well presented look into a travesty next door.

fascinating collection of tales of despair

this book was really engaging in its brutality. the offer does not sugar-coat any account and does an excellent job and painting what is a sad collection of murder rape and Carnage based around 4 main characters. nothing is held back in this author's account its gripping addictive and will definitely have you engaged until the end

Required Reading In A Post NAFTA World

Charles Bowden was a brilliant & haunted journalist & essayist who braved the terrifying reality of Juarez Mexico in Murder City; a Noirish Pulp tinged chronicle of a city suspended between the economic purgatory of the NAFTA licensed Global Economic World Order which kills it's citizens slowly & methodically, & the hellish nightmare of the murderous caprices of it's Narco Economy-a beast with tentacles whose reach go far beyond the ineffectual Secured Border with the USA. Bowden was a chronicler & witness for the tortured, the disappeared, the gunned down & the silenced, even for the killer El Sicarios who act without hesitation & remorse with the result of THOUSANDS of Undocumented murders.
Charles Bowden reading his own work is compelling & unflinching; a voice from the grave long before his untimely demise this year. If you're a fan of Bukowski, Hunter S. Thompson, William Burroughs, or Tom Waits, his voice will seem familiar and welcome, warning of a realtime Dystopian Present that can be Our Future.

very interesting

I really liked how the author. it was useful info for my research. Author and narrator, same person, I enjoyed the book. RIP Charles Bowden

Listen Up!

Texans like myself have been following the narco-problems in Ciudad Juarez for some time. Now journalist comes along to jerk us to reality.

Bowden is one of a small number of journalists who have been willing to spend time in the city during its time of demise. This is a page turner filled with stories and observations from the streets. People interested in true crime will find it great. Others concerned about narco-traffic and what it is capable of doing will be disturbed. Those who will take the time to listen will be warned of what is possible.

Well written and the reading is excellent. You may not agree with the conclusions, but your eyes will be opened.

Sobering

This book should be required reading. Bowden - as far as I can tell - has placed his life in peril by writing this book. Purposeful change is unlikely - if not impossible. The culture is cast in blood and concrete. Sadly, the USA will continue to send millions of dollars in guilt money south of the border, Mexico will continue to misdirect the funds. The country and Ciudad Juarez will continue to be "Murder City". This book is an eye opener and should not be missed.