Murder City
Ciudad Juarez and The Global Economy's New Killing Fields
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Narrated by:
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Charles Bowden
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By:
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Charles Bowden
About this listen
Charles Bowden writes, “this book is not about how the world ends but how a new world is being born.” Murder City explores this new world, focusing on the idea that Mexico is collapsing into a permanent culture of violence. Bowden focuses on Ciudad Juarez, which lies just across the Rio Grande from El Paso. Infamously known as the place where women disappear, last year alone 1,607 people were murdered, a number that is set to accelerate in 2009.
Miss Sinaloa is a beauty queen who loses her mind; her descent into madness becomes a parable for the town itself. As Bowden searches for reasons to explain why so many are dying, he realizes that what is happening in Juarez and other border towns—caught in the crosshairs of the drug and immigration wars—represents the total collapse of civic society.
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From an award-winning journalist, a brave and necessary immersion into the everyday struggles of Palestinian life. Over the past three years, American writer Ben Ehrenreich has been traveling to and living in the West Bank, staying with Palestinian families in its largest cities and its smallest villages. Along the way he has written major stories for American outlets, including a remarkable New York Times Magazine cover story. Now comes the powerful new work that has always been his ultimate goal, The Way to the Spring.
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One-sided version of 'the truth'
- By Mark on 01-01-18
By: Ben Ehrenreich
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The Morning They Came for Us
- Dispatches from Syria
- By: Janine di Giovanni
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Doing for Syria what Imperial Life in the Emerald City did for the war in Iraq, The Morning They Came for Us bears witness to one of the most brutal, internecine conflicts in recent history. Drawing from years of experience covering Syria for Vanity Fair, Newsweek, and the front pages of the New York Times, award-winning journalist Janine di Giovanni gives us a tour de force of war reportage, all told through the perspective of ordinary people.
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Bearing Witness to the Brutalities of War
- By Theo Horesh on 06-07-18
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Season of the Witch
- Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love
- By: David Talbot
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 16 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Season of the Witch is the first book to fully capture the dark magic of San Francisco in this breathtaking period, when the city radically changed itself - and then revolutionized the world. The cool gray city of love was the epicenter of the 1960s cultural revolution. But by the early 1970s, San Francisco’s ecstatic experiment came crashing down from its starry heights. The city was rocked by savage murder sprees, mysterious terror campaigns, political assassinations, street riots, and finally a terrifying sexual epidemic.
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Gripping, important history - well told
- By The Companion on 05-21-12
By: David Talbot
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Detroit
- An American Autopsy
- By: Charlie LeDuff
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In the heart of America, a metropolis is quietly destroying itself. Detroit, once the richest city in the nation, is now its poorest. Once the vanguard of America’s machine age - mass production, automobiles, and blue-collar jobs - Detroit is now America’s capital for unemployment, illiteracy, foreclosure, and dropouts. With the steel-eyed reportage that has become his trademark and the righteous indignation that only a native son can possess, journalist Charlie LeDuff sets out to uncover what has brought low this once-vibrant city, his city.
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WOW
- By Avid Reader and Listener on 07-09-13
By: Charlie LeDuff
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Walking the Bowl
- A True Story of Murder and Survival Among the Street Children of Lusaka
- By: Chris Lockhart, Daniel Mulilo Chama
- Narrated by: Hlonela Ngqwebo
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Based on years of investigative reporting and unprecedented fieldwork, Walking the Bowl immerses readers in the daily lives of four unforgettable characters: Lusabilo, a determined waste picker; Kapula, a burned-out brothel worker; Moonga, a former rock crusher turned beggar; and Timo, an ambitious gang leader. These children navigate the violent and poverty-stricken underworld of Lusaka, one of Africa’s fastest growing cities.
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Amazing. Horrifying. But true.
- By Daniel W. Fox, Jr. on 03-23-22
By: Chris Lockhart, and others
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The Forever War
- By: Dexter Filkins
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Through the eyes of Dexter Filkins, we witness the chain of events that began with the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, continued with the attacks of 9/11, and moved on to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Forever War allows us a visceral understanding of today's battlefields and of the experiences of the people on the ground, warriors and innocents alike. It is a brilliant, fearless work, not just about America's wars after 9/11, but ultimately about the nature of war itself.
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A memorable "read"
- By TCinDC on 02-16-09
By: Dexter Filkins
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Gaspipe
- Confessions of a Mafia Boss
- By: Philip Carlo
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, the boss of New York's Lucchese crime family, was a Mafia superstar, responsible for more than 50 murders. Currently serving 13 life sentences at a federal prison in Colorado, Casso has given journalist and New York Times best-selling author Philip Carlo the most intimate, personal look into the world of La Cosa Nostra ever seen.
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The author fails the objectivity test
- By William on 11-29-08
By: Philip Carlo
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Gangster Warlords
- By: Ioan Grillo
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In a ranch south of Texas, the man known as The Executioner dumps 500 body parts in metal barrels. In Brazil's biggest city, a mysterious prisoner orders hit men to gun down 41 police officers and prison guards in two days. In Southern Mexico a meth maker is venerated as a saint while enforcing Old Testament justice on his enemies. A new kind of criminal kingpin has arisen: part CEO, part terrorist, and part rock star, unleashing guerrilla attacks, strong-arming governments, and taking over much of the world's trade in narcotics, guns, and humans.
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Good analysis and interpretation, but...
- By James H. McDonald on 10-30-19
By: Ioan Grillo
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No Good Men Among the Living
- America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes
- By: Anand Gopal
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In a breathtaking chronicle, acclaimed journalist Anand Gopal traces in vivid detail the lives of three Afghans caught in America's war on terror. He follows a Taliban commander who rises from scrawny teenager to leading insurgent, a U.S.-backed warlord who uses the American military to gain personal wealth and power, and a village housewife trapped between the two sides who discovers the devastating cost of neutrality.
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Outstanding book, remarkable narrator
- By captainramius on 04-05-19
By: Anand Gopal
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North Korea Undercover
- Inside the World's Most Secret State
- By: John Sweeney
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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North Korea is like no other tyranny on Earth. Its citizens are told their home is the greatest nation in the world, and Big Brother is always watching. It is Orwell's 1984 made reality. Huge factories with no staff or electricity, hospitals with no patients, uniformed child soldiers, and the world-famous and eerily empty DMZ - the Demilitarized Zone, where North Korea ends and South Korea begins - are all framed by a relentless flow of regime propaganda from omnipresent loudspeakers. Free speech is an illusion: one word out of line, and the gulag awaits.
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Highly listenable, humorous and enlightening
- By Kevin Stokes on 09-09-15
By: John Sweeney
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The Darling
- By: Russell Banks
- Narrated by: Mary Beth Hurt
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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The Darling is Hannah Musgrave's story, told emotionally and convincingly years later by Hannah herself. A political radical and member of the Weather Underground, Hannah has fled America to West Africa, where she and her Liberian husband become friends and colleagues of Charles Taylor, the notorious warlord and now ex-president of Liberia. When Taylor leaves for the United States in an effort to escape embezzlement charges, he's immediately placed in prison.
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Complex and compelling
- By Ellen H. Anderson on 02-05-05
By: Russell Banks
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Drug Lord
- The True Story of Pablo Acosta: The Life and Death of a Mexican Kingpin
- By: Terrence E. Poppa
- Narrated by: Armando Duran
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Drug Lord, a firsthand account of drug dealing, murder, and corruption, tells of drug kingpin Pablo Acosta, who smuggled up to 20 tons of cocaine each year into the United States before treachery brought about his downfall and grisly death.
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Not just another cartel book
- By Consumer 14 on 09-05-20
What listeners say about Murder City
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rory Tek
- 04-08-13
A Good Primer for Any Reader
I enjoyed this book by Charles Bowden, who also narrated it.
He describes the story in his factual, monotone voice, so it's important to get engaged in the story, listen closely, or you may miss key pieces of the book.
This may be on purpose by Bowden, to illustrate the casual savagery, lack of law enforcement, American involvement and Mexican government interests which exists in Juarez.
I found I had to go back over parts to catch back up on the story, as it sometime is a little difficult to stay on top of it, with the slow, unchanging pitch in narration.
However, Bowden's account of the conditions in Juarez are chilling, and his first person description is even more credible. He describes the lawlessness of a city under siege from a citizen's perspective, having interviewed and spent time with innocents living in this city during the writing of this book.
He uses the experiences of real people, for example, Miss Sinaloa, a beauty queen abducted by a Mexican drug cartel and eventually freed only to be placed in a mental institution, as a backdrop to his story. He educates us on the rise of the Mexican cartels, the power and pure brutality which they possess, and the influence on authority and government which allows free range activity south of the border in Juarez.
This book is somewhat of a primer and close-up look into the changing political landscape which includes now includes the drug cartels as a financial power base in Mexico. Its an interesting listen and will bring anybody who reads it up to speed on a situation in Mexico which has escalated in notoriety and presence over the last 7 years.
I would recommend it to readers interested in this topic.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Alball
- 01-01-24
Love Bowden
I WISH THEY WOULD PUT HIS BOOK “DOWN BY THE RIVER…” UP HERE. SURPRISED THEY DON’T HAVE IT.
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- Steve360
- 04-14-17
Charles Bowden is the Man
Absolutely beautifully written and narrated. Descriptive and educating, as well as dark and unfiltered. Charles Bowden is the real deal and it shows--he's done his homework on this subject and not on a computer, on los calles of ciudad Juarez. He explores the dark alleys, talks to people on all sides on the violence, and knows the history of Mexico and the US, as well as 'the war on drugs', extremely well. He is an authority on this gruesome topic, and weaves this story with such articulate vision that you can imagine every scene. I am just about done with the book and very bummed about it. One of my favs for sure. Would love to meet him someday and talk about his book.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Unapologetic
- 07-30-19
America’s future In a nutshell....reap what we sow.
This book was haunting, it was devastatingly sad, and at the end simply beautiful. Right after I finished the book, i searched Juarez and cartel crimes in the US. I came across illegals from Juarez running a hime invasion crew in Milwaukee. They shot up the streets, killed, and maimed people. Then I saw a similar story in Juarez, daily murder and mayhem at industrial scale .
This book predicts the violence thats taking place now here in America. This book establishes how lack of morality, decency, and love breaks down a society. To the conservative in the US - I say, you are a hypocrite for only paying lip service to your beliefs, you are a hypocrite for your racist ideas and lack of conviction in God. To the liberals I say, you are the breeding ground for evil, for you lack the same beliefs and conviction but worse you enable indignity by perpetuating weakness.
Ciudad Juarez is a place where only wolves survive, they eat ppl, communities, love, families, all that is good. Bowden strips down any falsehoods, any hopes for a good ending, he simply delivers the bad news. Essentially declaring that wolves and sheep eat the same sin, they are complicit in carrying out organized slaughter at the expense of their own souls.
Time is near in the US where similar forces will commit same atrocities, where belief will be hard to come by. When all you’ll hold dear is the breath in your lungs and the clothes on your back, where your future is far less guaranteed.
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- vurnt22
- 09-23-14
Required Reading In A Post NAFTA World
Charles Bowden was a brilliant & haunted journalist & essayist who braved the terrifying reality of Juarez Mexico in Murder City; a Noirish Pulp tinged chronicle of a city suspended between the economic purgatory of the NAFTA licensed Global Economic World Order which kills it's citizens slowly & methodically, & the hellish nightmare of the murderous caprices of it's Narco Economy-a beast with tentacles whose reach go far beyond the ineffectual Secured Border with the USA. Bowden was a chronicler & witness for the tortured, the disappeared, the gunned down & the silenced, even for the killer El Sicarios who act without hesitation & remorse with the result of THOUSANDS of Undocumented murders.
Charles Bowden reading his own work is compelling & unflinching; a voice from the grave long before his untimely demise this year. If you're a fan of Bukowski, Hunter S. Thompson, William Burroughs, or Tom Waits, his voice will seem familiar and welcome, warning of a realtime Dystopian Present that can be Our Future.
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- Mykel Moreno
- 01-23-19
very interesting
I really liked how the author. it was useful info for my research. Author and narrator, same person, I enjoyed the book. RIP Charles Bowden
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- Jerome Pitts
- 08-27-16
Makes a thinking person wonder 'Who will be next?'
I found this to be a very well presented look into a travesty next door.
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- JOAQUIN M.
- 06-29-16
fascinating collection of tales of despair
this book was really engaging in its brutality. the offer does not sugar-coat any account and does an excellent job and painting what is a sad collection of murder rape and Carnage based around 4 main characters. nothing is held back in this author's account its gripping addictive and will definitely have you engaged until the end
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- Roy
- 04-04-10
Listen Up!
Texans like myself have been following the narco-problems in Ciudad Juarez for some time. Now journalist comes along to jerk us to reality.
Bowden is one of a small number of journalists who have been willing to spend time in the city during its time of demise. This is a page turner filled with stories and observations from the streets. People interested in true crime will find it great. Others concerned about narco-traffic and what it is capable of doing will be disturbed. Those who will take the time to listen will be warned of what is possible.
Well written and the reading is excellent. You may not agree with the conclusions, but your eyes will be opened.
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17 people found this helpful
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- Riverman63
- 04-12-10
Sobering
This book should be required reading. Bowden - as far as I can tell - has placed his life in peril by writing this book. Purposeful change is unlikely - if not impossible. The culture is cast in blood and concrete. Sadly, the USA will continue to send millions of dollars in guilt money south of the border, Mexico will continue to misdirect the funds. The country and Ciudad Juarez will continue to be "Murder City". This book is an eye opener and should not be missed.
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5 people found this helpful