The most comprehensive book on Mexico’s contemporary security challenges and possible policy available. A wealth of information simplified into a brilliantly written work of scholarship. A must read.

Hanna Samir Kassab, Northern Michigan University

Organized Crime, Drug Trafficking, and Violence is an excellent synthesis of the evaluation of organized crime related to drug trafficking and the war that President Calderón declared in 2006. The result was a significant increase in violence. Six years after the change in government Enrique Peña Nieto came to power and decided to try to change the strategy without success. The authors argue that within Mexico there are some states, in fact, that are failed states because the government’s efforts to dismantle the drug cartels were not successful. The book is an excellent analysis for better understanding 10 years in which Mexico has applied the strategy of the war on drugs.

Raúl Benitez-Manaut, Center for Research on North America (UNAM)