Overview

Loyal Soldiers in the Cocaine Kingdom opens a window on a rarely glimpsed world: the couriers who transport drugs from Colombia into the United States and Europe. Written by one of Colombia's leading writers, the book lets English-speaking readers get a good look-for the first time-at the people behind the drug trade. Colombians from many different backgrounds and parts of the country tell the story of how they got involved in smuggling and how some of them managed to get out alive. This book is about the predicament in which ordinary Colombians find themselves, forced to find a way out of poverty in the middle of an unending civil war. Based on Alfred Molano's visits to Spanish and Latin American jails, Loyal Soldiers in the Cocaine Kingdom combines the gut-wrenching honesty of testimonial literature with the passionate storytelling we have come to expect from Latin America. In his native Colombia Molano has been compared to Gabriel García Marquez, and indeed the many layered narratives in this book resemble harrowing fictions.

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9780231129152

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Reviews

The major pleasure of this book lies in the sheer zest of its telling. Molano has an ear for magic-realist openings and pungent country wisdom. -- Minneapolis City Paper Molano's narratives are powerful arguments for a policy that addresses the poverty -- and aspirations -- of Colombia's citizens. -- Paul LaFarge, Village Voice Literary Supplement

Author Information

Alfredo Molano is a sociologist and journalist with numerous books to his credit. Recently a visiting professor at Stanford University, his explosive writing has resulted in his exile from Colombia.James Graham has translated Roque Dalton, Pedro Juan Gutierrez and many others. His Delirium Tremens New York will appear in France in 2004.

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