The Dope

The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade

Benjamin T Smith

$22.99

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Ebury Press
05 October 2022

True crime; Drugs trade & trafficking; Organised crime

The untold history of the Mexican drug trade.

Discover the secret history behind the headlines.

The Mexican drug wars have inspired countless articles, TV shows and movies. From Breaking Bad to Sicario, El Chapo's escapes to Trump's tirades, this is a story we think we know. But there's a hidden history to the biggest story of the twenty-first century.

The Dope exposes how an illicit industry that started with farmers, families and healers came to be dominated by cartels, kingpins and corruption. Benjamin T Smith traces an unforgettable cast of characters from the early twentieth century to the modern day, whose actions came to influence Mexico as we now know it. There's Enrique Fernandez, the borderlands trafficker who became Mexico's first major narco and one of the first victims of the war on drugs; Eduardo 'Lalo' Fernandez, Mexico's most prominent heroin chemist and first major cocaine importer; Leopoldo Salazar Viniegra, the brilliant doctor and Marxist who tried (and failed) to decriminalize Mexico's drugs;

and Harry Anslinger, the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics whose sensationalist strategies paved the way for U.S. interference and the extraordinary levels of violence in Mexico today.

The Dope is the epic saga of how violence and corruption came to plague modern Mexico, and the first book to make sense of the political and economic big picture of the Mexican drug wars.

By: Benjamin T Smith
Imprint: Ebury Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 126mm, Spine: 27mm
Weight: 302g
ISBN: 9781529105698
ISBN 10: 1529105692
Pages: 448
Publication Date: 05 October 2022
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Benjamin T. Smith is one of the foremost historians of modern Mexico. He is a professor in modern Latin American history at the University of Warwick, and was Associate Professor of Mexican History at Michigan State University. His previous books have explored politics, violence, Catholicism and journalism in modern Mexico. Benjamin has written widely on Mexico for the Guardian, The Jacobin, and Dissent and has appeared on Sky TV, BBC Radio, Channel 4 News and France24. He also provides expert witness accounts for Mexican asylum seekers escaping gang violence.

Reviews for The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade

Magisterial and immensely readable... True crime at its historical best, replete with all the larger-than-life characters and thrills and spills of a Netflixnarco drama * Financial Times * With the skills of a fine historian and the verve of a true storyteller Benjamin T. Smith unearths the twisted roots of the catastrophic drug war. A fascinating, surreal and tragic tale * Ioan Grillo, author of El Narco and Blood Gun Money * A compelling narrative that at last gives us a history-for-all of Mexico's all-out drug war * Ed Vulliamy, author of Amexica: War Along the Borderline * Smith's depth of knowledge astonishes... This searing history leaves a mark * Publishers Weekly * A well-researched, sobering view of the damage that Americans' need to get high wreaks on [their] neighbors * Kirkus *