First published 2005
Caroline Moorehead investigates the global human smuggling trade, which generates more than $7 billion annually and surpasses drug trafficking revenues. She travels to war zones, refugee camps, and detention centers across multiple continents. Moorehead documents black Dinka families relocated from Sudan to locations north of the Arctic Circle in Finland. She traces 57 young Mandingo tribe members who escaped ethnic violence and eventually reached America through Egypt. Her reporting takes her to Sicilian graveyards where drowned migrants are buried and along the Texas border fence extending into the ocean. She interviews Australian immigration officials and UN refugee commissioners in Geneva. The book examines whether meaningful differences exist between asylum seekers and economic migrants, and explores what befalls those whose applications face rejection. Moorehead confronts difficult policy questions while documenting the resilience and determination of displaced people worldwide.
Genres: social-issues, non-fiction, current-affairs
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-reporting, social-commentary
Setting: Sudan, Finland, America, Egypt, Sicily, Texas, Australia, Geneva
Period: 21st-century
302 pages · Paperback · Chatto & Windus
Content warnings: trafficking, violence