Hit the road with our book of the month

Is there any more genuinely contentious issue out there than immigration? For generations, the movement of people has been one of the most powerful forces in political discourse. Today, it’s the trigger for so many other beliefs and stances.

And yet, in truth, most people have very little understanding of what it looks like to be inside the migration machine. Few of us ever really see behind the scenes, or understand what and why things happen. I have some understanding, as an immigrant to the U.S. myself and as a journalist who has covered these issues… but even then my experience is limited.

That’s why I’m pleased to share September’s book of the month, Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling by Jason De León.

De León is an anthropologist based in LA who focuses on something that is constantly discussed and still largely unknown: the clandestine movement of people over the Mexico-US border. This book documents his years-long attempt to get close to human traffickers and the people they shuttle across central America, to understand what they do, what they go through and why. 

He meets them, befriends them, worries about them, and often fears them. But what he doesn’t do is judge them. The people in this book aren’t heroes or victims or villains: They are just people existing inside a monstrous and strange system that nobody really has total control over. 

First released in 2024, Soldiers and Kings is a humane and surprising book, but it isn’t for the faint of heart. It doesn’t have neat moral lessons, or simple solutions to entrenched, wicked problems. Instead, it treats the subject and the people it covers with careful attention and honest compassion.

Those are some of the qualities that helped it win a National Book Award, and among the reasons I wanted to share it with reading club members this month.

Hardcover copies are on their way to subscribers today!

Onwards

Bobbie