A Narco History

How the United States and Mexico Jointly Created the “Mexican Drug War”

By: Carmen Boullosa, Mike Wallace

Narrated by: James Conlan

The term Mexican Drug War misleads. It implies that the ongoing bloodbath, which has now killed well over 100,000 people, is an internal Mexican affair. But this diverts attention from the US role in creating and sustaining the carnage. It's not just that Americans buy drugs from and sell weapons to Mexico's murderous cartels. It's that ever since the US prohibited the use and sale of drugs in the early 1900s, it has pressured Mexico into acting as its border enforcer - with increasingly deadly consequences. Mexico was not a helpless victim. Powerful forces within the country profited hugely from supplying Americans with what their government forbade them. But the policies that spawned the drug war have proved disastrous for both countries. Written by two award-winning authors, one American and the other Mexican, A Narco History reviews the interlocking 20th-century histories that produced this 21st-century calamity and proposes how to end it.

©2015 Carmen Boullosa and Mike Wallace (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Blame America

There is a lot of interesting, factual information in this book. There is also a whole lot of opinion scattered heavily throughout. Somehow, Americans' freedom to own AR15's puts RPG's (rocket propelled grenades) on the streets of Mexico?

Very detailed

This is a great, albeit brief, history of the Mexican war on drugs. Detailed through the political climate in Mexico and US influence on Mexico, it tells the story of why and how. But I do recommend that the reader or listener have some background information on the Marco situation in Mexico as a lot of names and dates are thrown around and can be confusing.

Learned A Lot!

The historical view point taken by the author was interesting and lined up the facts in another book I read about the history of the war on drugs. the main characters of in this book lined up with the characters in the other book. the underlining theme of both books support the fact that the war on drugs was created by the same country aiming to stop it. Good listen, will get the hard copy for future research.

Carmen Boullosa should have listened

Otherwise excellent book

Carmen Boullosa should have listened before this audiobook was launched. She would have let the reader know of several mistakes in the pronunciation. Help this man to say "sexenio" properly, since it is a much used word in the text. It is pronounced Sex-EN-io, not Sej-EN-io.

His pronunciation of "Sexenio" as Sehenio .

His pronunciation of "Sexenio" as Sehenio is very annoying other than that I learn a lot about my own country

great history. every american should read this.

This is a great history book. Seriously yall, every american should read this. word word word word word word.

Great History

I love how the author maintained a non-bias factual sheet. Well knowledgeable, and great details on the series of events on the Cartel Drugs War.
This book should be listened by Americans and also Mexicans seeking a wider understanding and background of Politics, Corruption, US drug involvement and the origin of Cartels.

Great background

The author does a great job at providing a lot of background information. This is a good starter book into the subject.

Comprehensive view of an important topic

This book covers a lot of history and gives the reader a valuable single source for an overview of the current drug war and all its dire ramifications. While the performance is clear and professional there is the occasional mispronunciation of the Spanish names although I found it easily forgivable. Written some time ago now so the material is starting to show it’s age relative to the current state of affairs but nonetheless this book will get you up to speed on the drug war in an engaging manner.

Brilliant History

This should be standard reading for anyone who is interested in the history of the Mexican drug problem. They often quote from Ioan Grillo's El Narco - also obligatory reading if this is your interest. My only criticism is that the narrator clearly cannot pronounce the Mexican Spanish words properly and sounds more like a CNN transatlantic announcer.