The dope : the real history of the Mexican drug trade / Benjamin T. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Benjamin T., author.

Contributor:

Lipman Criminology Library Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Drug traffic--Mexico--History.

Drug traffic.

Organized crime--Mexico--History.

Organized crime.

Drug dealers--Mexico.

Drug dealers.

Drug control.

History.

Latin America.

Mexico.

Genre:

True crime.

Political science.

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 462 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : W. W. Norton & Company, 2021.

Summary:

"A myth-busting, 100-year history of the Mexican drug trade that reveals how an industry founded by farmers and village healers became dominated by cartels and kingpins. The Mexican drug trade has inspired prejudiced narratives of a war between north and south, white and brown; between noble cops and vicious kingpins, corrupt politicians and powerful cartels. In this first comprehensive history of the trade, historian Benjamin T. Smith tells the real story of how and why this one-peaceful industry turned violent. He uncovers its origins and explains how this illicit business essentially built modern Mexico, affecting everything from agriculture to medicine to economics-and the country's all-important relationship with the United States. Drawing on unprecedented archival research; leaked DEA, Mexican law enforcement, and cartel documents; and dozens of harrowing interviews, Smith tells a thrilling story brimming with vivid characters-from Ignacia "La Nacha" Jasso, "queen pin" of Ciudad Juárez, to Dr. Leopoldo Salazar Viniegra, the crusading physician who argued that marijuana was harmless and tried to decriminalize morphine, to Harry Anslinger, the Machiavellian founder of the American Federal Bureau of Narcotics, who drummed up racist drug panics to increase his budget. Smith also profiles everyday agricultural workers, whose stories reveal both the economic benefits and the human cost of the trade. The Dope contains many surprising conclusions about drug use and the failure of drug enforcement, all backed by new research and data. Smith explains the complicated dynamics that drive the current drug war violence, probes the U.S.-backed policies that have inflamed the carnage, and explores corruption on both sides of the border. A dark morality tale about the American hunger for intoxication and the necessities of human survival, The Dope is essential for understanding the violence in the drug war and how decades-old myths shape Mexico in the American imagination today"-- Provided by publisher.

"The Mexican drug trade has inspired prejudiced narratives of a war between north and south, white and brown; between noble cops and vicious kingpins, corrupt politicians and powerful cartels. In this first comprehensive history of the trade, historian Benjamin T. Smith tells the real story of how and why this one-peaceful industry turned violent. He uncovers its origins and explains how this illicit business essentially built modern Mexico, affecting everything from agriculture to medicine to economicsand the countrys all-important relationship with the United States."

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. I FIRST PUFFS, 1910-1940

ch. 1 The King of the Grifos

ch. 2 White Lady, Black Market

ch. 3 Pipes and Prejudice

ch. 4 Vice and Violence

ch. 5 Drugs in Depression

ch. 6 The Revolutionary

pt. II COMING LP, 1940-1960

ch. 7 The Golden Triangle

ch. 8 The Governors and the Gypsy

ch. 9 The Cadillac Bust

ch. 10 The New Status Quo

ch. 11 Queen Pin

pt. III THE HIGH, 1960-1975

ch. 12 The Mexican Stopover

ch. 13 Acapulco Gold

ch. 14 Mexican Brown

ch. 15 The Rackets

pt. IV THE COMEDOWN, 1970-1990

ch. 16 Narcs

ch. 17 The Atrocities

ch. 18 The Barbarians of the North

ch. 19 The "Guadalajara Cartel"

ch. 20 The Martyr and the Spook

pt. V INTO THE ABYSS, 1990-2020

ch. 21 The Takeover

ch. 22 Wars.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Lipman Criminology Library Fund.

ISBN:

9781324006558

1324006552

OCLC:

1233267930

Publisher Number:

99988007720