A Narco History
As a Blog poster, you are to write a 750-1000 word book review that explores the book being discussed. What is the main intervention from the author? (What does the book claim to do for the history/politics of drugs?) How does the book attempt to answer this Question Assignment? What have previous histories (historiography) done or not done to address this question? (i.e. what are the methods: sources, materials, used to answer this question?)Does it successfully answer this question/intervention? (Use as many examples/ direct quotes from the text as possible to prove whether the author does, or does not do this)
A Narco History: How the United States and Mexico Jointly Created the ” Mexican Drug War”
Boullosa was a Mexican novelist, and Pulitzer happened to be a prize-winning historian. Wallace analyzes Mexico’s increasingly violent and unending conflicts over transportation, production, transportation, and sale of illegal drugs. The war on drugs started in the nineteenth century. That was when the united states and Mexico started combating the narcotics industry. The Harrison Act of 1914the constitution criminalized non-medical opiates and cocaine in the united states was ratified and 1917, which made Mexico try terminating the drug distribution with bans that were very strict on the production and importation of marijuana, opiates, and cocaine. As early as 1920, both the united states and Mexico had declared war on drugs. There are events recounted from the year 2014 that caused the terrible murder of the fourth three students from Ayotzinapa in the Guerrero state. The students were from a rural teachers training college.
After the students’ crossing, local authorities that were intimately connected with major drug cartels were abducted and murdered. The book’s authors suggest foul play rooted in collaboration between drug-related gangs, the federal government, and local politicians, although the truth about the case remains obscure today. There is the emphasis put on the importance of the united states in the conflicts. The goal is helping American readers get the century-long history of the type of murder of the students was the ”sanguinary denouement”. The rest of the book talks about the convergence of local and federal politicians with drug dealers from the nineteenth century.
The twelve chapters, before spanning from Mexico’s Portfiriato to the administration led by Obama, explore how the government’s actions, especially that of the united states, resulted in the drug trade expansion. The authors also argue that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) favored the US agribusiness and forced several Mexican farmers to start handling cocaine and marijuana production. The local dependence on the drug market was deepened, providing a bigger supply for the US’s insatiable demand. Throughout the century, there were similar instances of effect and cause. That benefited the united states instead of the Mexicans. A narco history gets the interested reader up-to-speed on the history of the drug war.
The implications of neoliberalism, political corruption, the arms trade, and American exceptionalism are well spelled out. The proliferation of cartels and the narcotics movement was initiated by the US drug policies and pressures on Mexico to squelch trade. When one drug load was eliminated, it led to the fissuring of cartels and increased collateral criminality cases. Examples include extortion, rape, kidnapping, and murder. In the last pages of this book, the authors end the history with a few suggestions for the US and Mexico on ameliorating the situations for the drug war violence victims. A lot of attention is given to the US-Mexico border issues in the next presidential elections, where readers will find their propositions useful.
The writing is unpolished, but still, Boullosa and Wallace make a very convincing case regarding the root of the current crisis and how it stretches back to the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution. I found the book neither easy nor particularly enjoyable to read because of the plodding prose and a flood of factual details. Besides that, the book offers a lucidly organized and meticulously researched overview of such a topic, which is of great significance in contemporary debates in American law enforcement and foreign policy.
The book claims that there is a need for both countries to ease the situations for the drug war violence victims. “The elimination of one “drug lord” inevitably led to the fissuring of cartels and the increase in “collateral criminality,” like kidnapping, rape, extortion, and murder (Boullosa & Wallace, 2015). The authors end the history with a few suggestions for both countries on how to lessen the situations for the drug war violence victims. Considering the attention given to US-Mexico border issues in the upcoming presidential elections, readers will find their propositions useful (Boullosa & Wallace, 2015).”
The book claims to criticize the system for being broken. More than a hundred thousand deaths and endemic violence are mentioned, not forgetting the deep corruption that infects the state. The authors walk us back to the beginning of the Mexican Drug War, which we then realize that it is hardly Mexican at all but a product of drug policy in the US entirely. When narcotics are the biggest business by far in the country, it would be hard to avoid corruption criminals are the ones left embracing that business opportunity. At the same time, the civilians continually die at the hands of police officers. Other references try dealing with the issues by fighting to end the war on drugs by finding alternatives (Vitiello, 2020).
In conclusion, the book “a narco history” has a clear writing style which lacks the intimidating footnotes, making it extremely accessible. However, It could raise some questions for the academic reader on seeking its sources. There are vignettes on individuals ranging from corrupt politicians and extravagant narcotraficantea. They head to heroic victims and opportunistic agriculturalists who will prove especially interesting to undergraduates and nonacademic audiences. Although not guaranteed, a Narco History will leave many readers eager to do more research on their own. just like me, we can all begin with the excellent bibliography of the book to understand more.
References
Boullosa, C., & Wallace, M. (2015). A Narco History: How the United States and Mexico Jointly Created the” Mexican Drug War.” or Books.
Vitiello, M. (2020). The End of the War on Drugs, the Peace Dividend, and the Renewed Fourth Amendment?. Oklahoma Law Review, 73.
