Customer Reviews

Down by the River : Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've been somewhat aware of the corruptive influence that drugs has had on our society, but this book really opened my eyes. And it makes sense the way Mr. Bowden describes it.

In many ways the story sums up the struggle anyone has with senseless tragedy: the search for meaning and understanding, and how sometimes there is none. This is a story of a family in the cross hairs of several cultures and how those cultural expectations destroyed several of its members.

It is also the story of another family, that of the boy accused of the shooting. Amidst the violence and the massive corruption, the reader is led along a parallel path of two families and how a shooting in a parking lot changed so many lives.

I was able to put myself in the place of the people in the book, hoping and searching with them for answers. The many names grew confusing at times, but Mr. Bowden successfully reminded the reader of the role each person had earlier on in the story. From time to time it was necessary to put the book down and absorb the ramifications of what I had just read.

This book is heartily recommended.

Many different worlds collide in the dusty, sprawling metropolis of El Paso/Juarez, igniting a culture of chaos. This conflagration is fueled to levels of heroic proportions by economic opportunity. The biggest opportunities arise from the official American goals of stopping the illegal drug trade, the so-called War on Drugs.

Profits previously unimaginable are within reach for the daring in a black market created by drug prohibition laws. Consequently, 'greed' violently governs lives on both sides of the border with the protection, or camouflage, of law enforcement and government on both sides of the border. In "Down by the River," Charles Bowden investigates and records for history a collage of bizarre events at the frontlines of a war that can never be won.

I'm from El Paso. I have encouraged people for many years to open their minds to the murderous results of this war on drugs-but with limited success and much frustration at times. Now others can and do comment readily to me because this eye-popping book is now available as credible social research. Charles Bowden has provided us with facts, names, dates, researchable footnotes, and irrefutable grounds to support what we already know and feel.

Most everyone around here remembers the sad story of the Jordan family, around whom the book centers. Many people agree with Phillip Jordan, the eldest brother of this local family, who believes his youngest brother Bruno was killed with an Uzi in a carjacking as a warning from the Juarez cartel to 'back off.'

Was this a nasty hint for Phil to drop his announced plans to increase DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) success in his hometown? Anyone who has heard the story has an opinion similar to mine, and, in my opinion, it was a dire warning. His brother's murder occurred as Phillip Jordan was in the process of filling his promotion with the DEA to head the El Paso Intelligence Center, or EPIC.

Seeing in print the details of local daily newspaper stories supported with what I've only heard in whispers is at the same time affirming yet even more frightening. With so much documentation available to so many, why aren't we approaching these issues with more realism? Why are so many people paying so dearly with their lives or time in prison?

The borderland that surrounds the Rio Grande is like a test tube for corruption. What happens here can happen anywhere if left unchecked. We cannot continue on our current path and expect to achieve any success, nor can we abruptly legalize the most popular illegal drugs without major global repercussions. We need to see the truth and deal with it.

According to Bowden, pragmatic patriotism may be at the heart of many of the sophisticated and driven businessmen, narcocorridos, when they employ thousands and build roads, churches, schools and more. Ironically, here in the United States public funds continue to be routed away from education and public health and towards law enforcement and harsher punishments. Our leaders must be plagued with self-protective amnesia or hysterical blindness to allow a system of honor and integrity to be replaced with practices of conspiracy and deceit. The snitch culture of coercion and lies, undercover agents, and entrapment prevalent in our law enforcement and judicial system today is a far cry from "protect and serve" slogans of most police departments.

The drug economy has grown so powerful that human lives are often a business expense, where torture and murder are 'business tools.' Drugs represent 20% of the American economy and over 60% of the Mexican economy, tying the hands of presidents, law enforcement, and politicians to payoffs and bank transactions of unprecedented scale. Who can dispute that when an entire nation depends on a profitable enterprise, legal or not, there will be no real effort to curb it? In "Down by the River" Bowden introduces policy makers and US operatives who know and accept this reality. The balance of blood lost in this clash of public policy and real life is monumental.

Relentlessly, Charles Bowden compels the reader to see the true colors of the growing economic force of a global black market. He took great personal risks to be involved within the shadowy collision of trafficking and enforcement groups. To then publish a documentary illuminating the bloody reality of a 30-year war is unparalleled journalism.
"Down by the River" may be a difficult book to read for some, yet Bowden's unyielding prose hammers out new consciousness, making it difficult to put down. He captures the diversity of the Mexican/US borderland with all its contradictions and magic in lustrous vivid imagery. It is a complete exposé of government propaganda and its mystification of rampant mind-numbing corruption.

Telling the truth in a time of universal deceit is an act of revolution. Thank you, Charles Bowden.
November Coalition (www.november.org)

Why would someone take 7 years of their life to write a book? Find out and read this book. It's not fiction, but when you read about the lives of those affected, including the author, you will wish it was. You won't want to think too long about how great amounts of money can change the way things should be. How money levers the honest officials in other countries and the U.S. into submission or how it lifts the greedy into powerful positions will shake you. The amounts of that money will be beyond comprehension. Want to know how the soldiers in the war on drugs are regarded and treated by those you think are their best advocates. Will the war ever be won or even end? This book will hold your attention, I highly recommend it.

Charles Bowden takes us down the sink,through drain and
into the sewer(the best description I can conjure) that is
the world of U.S.drug policy, Drug Cartels and our ever
tenuous relationship with our southern neighbor Mexico.
You'll find things in this book that will be maddening and
leave you near tears of rage as the corruption, incompetence
and trail of bodies mount. Yet he puts a human face to
the story by telling the saga of one man and his familys
struggle to find justice and answers to the murder of a
a beloved brother in a supposed "CarJacking" that went bad.
Bowden does a brilliant job of leading us through the
numerous angles and paths this tale courses through. I will
warn folks that this book is not a light read and often like
reality there is no happy "PayOff". But I came away with
my eyes more open about many things that I already suspected
were true. In a word powerful.

You want the true story about the "War On Drugs"? Then don't wait and buy this book NOW. Bowden takes you right inside what's going on with this so called war, and the people who get hurt by it. Once you pick up this book you won't be able to put it down. Charles Bowden is one of this country's great reporters/writers.

Jay Marvin
WLS Radio
Chicago, IL

This is a very well written and informative book. It is more than just about the drug trade and the DEA. It provides insights into Mexico and its government that are unique and normally untold by our American media.

Yes, this book is about the drug trade, but it is about much more. It is also about Mexico's government and its leaders, and the relationship between the US & Mexican governments, and corners of Mexican society. Those who just focus on the main storyline of the murder & the DEA agent are missing the forest for the trees.

For example, the accounts of how events are reported in the Mexican press are fascinating. It is very interesting to see how things get told in Mexico and how news events are reported. You will also be stunned by some of the facts regarding Mexican government and the drug trade. Bowden's statistics are startling and they are meticulously footnoted in the index. He does a fantastic job of providing facts.

I would compare this book very much to the movie Traffic. The scene and the topic are similar. And both are done very, very well. Both will also expose the drug trade in a way we Americans aren't really used to.

As a former participant in the drug war (on the wrong end), I will assure you this is an accurate portrayal. Participants on both sides of the issue are decimated, and people prefer to bury their heads and hide from this reality, a reality that may be the most critical problem facing our nation.

This book is extremely well written. My hat is off to Mr. Bowden.

This book is one of the most gripping books I have read in years. Growing up in El Paso and having worked in Juarez and Mexico City, I clearly remember many of the events that take place in this book. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know the inner workings of Mexican politics and the drug cartels.

I met Chuck Bowden at Ken Sanders Bookstore in Salt Lake City. He is a self-effacing man with an odd sense of humor. I bought two of his books based on a radio interview I heard earlier in the day. The tone of his voice intrigued me at first, baritone, slow and methodical, a little off-kilter, but very informative and mature. I am so glad I bought his books because "Down the River" is an excellent read on the Mexican Drug Cartel. Bowden is a polished writer who deftly infuses fiction with reality and the story reminded me alot of Mailer's 'The Executioner's Song'.
Thank you Chuck for the opportunity of meeting you briefly and getting my hands on such a great book.

If those worried about Saddam's stockpile of chemical weapons in the Iraqi desert read this torturous book by Bowden, they would shift their attention to the flow of drugs from south of the border and the concomitant violence. If this were Aesop, the moral would be, trust no one, especially your own government, regardless of which side of the border you are on. This is not what most readers want to hear, but fortunately for us, Bowden is not afraid to tell the ugly stories.
I am now going to read some Jane Austen. I need to visit a gentler place for awhile.