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Enrique’s Journey

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Enrique’s Journey: Introduction

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Historical Context of Enrique’s Journey

Other books related to enrique’s journey.

• Full Title: Enrique's Journey: The Story of a Boy's Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with his Mother
• When Written: 1997-2006
• Where Written: Honduras, the United States, Mexico
• When Published: 2006
• Genre: Non-fiction
• Setting: Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Chiapas, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Mexico City, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico; Los Angeles, North Carolina, and Florida, United States
• Climax: The book climaxes when Enrique crosses the Rio Grande, enters the United States, and finally reunites with his mother in North Carolina. Because the book is non-fiction, there is not a specific moment that Nazario constructs which can count as the climax. Rather, it is a fast-paced account of the trials of a seventeen-year-old boy in search of his mother.
• Point of View: Nazario

Extra Credit for Enrique’s Journey

The real scoop. Enrique's Journey first appeared in the Los Angeles Times as a six-part series in 2002 with photographs by Don Bartletti.

Double Pulitzer. Both the author, Sonia Nazario, and the photographer, Don Bartletti received Pulitzer Prizes for their work on Enrique's Journey.

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Enrique’s Journey recounts the unforgettable quest of a Honduran boy looking for his mother, eleven years after she is forced to leave her starving family to find work in the United States. Braving unimaginable peril, often clinging to the sides and tops of freight trains, Enrique travels through hostile worlds full of thugs, bandits, and corrupt cops. But he pushes forward, relying on his wit, courage, hope, and the kindness of strangers. As Isabel Allende writes: “This is a twenty-first-century Odyssey. If you are going to read only one nonfiction book this year, it has to be this one.” Now updated with a new Epilogue and Afterword, photos of Enrique and his family, an author interview and more, this is a classic of contemporary America.

National Bestseller

Named one of the best books of the year by the  washington post ,  san francisco chronicle ,  miami herald , and  san antonio express-news., named the best non-fiction book of 2014 by  the latino author ., among the most chosen books as a  freshman or common read:  nearly 100 universities, more than 20 cities and scores of high schools nationwide have adopted  enrique’s journey  as a their freshman or common read. middle schools are now using a version adapted for young readers as their common read., published in august 2013: a new version of  enrique’s journey   adapted for young readers  for the 7 th  grade on up and for reluctant readers in high school and geared to new common core standards in schools. the young adult version was published in spanish in july 2015. new york city has made the ya edition part of its classroom curriculum., published in february 2014: a  revised and updated   enrique’s journey , with a new epilogue and photos., published in eight languages., recent updates.

“What Part of Illegal Don’t You Understand?” My Family’s Refugee Story Shows We Can Have an Immigration Policy that is Both Sane and Humane

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Sonia’s tedx: solving illegal immigration [for real ], a journey towards hope – sonia speaks at kids in need of defense (kind) virtual event, buy enrique’s journey.

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Review: Enrique's Journey

By Sarah Wildman

• May 5, 2006

Enrique's Journey, By Sonia Nazario.

Illustrated. 291 pp. Random House. $26.95.

We tend to think of the desperate migrants who risk death to make it into the United States as adults. In fact, thousands of children make the journey as well, only instead of seeking work, they come in search of the parents who left them behind.

The Los Angeles Times reporter Sonia Nazario humanizes these wayward children in "Enrique's Journey." This painstakingly researchedbook is not just the story of Enrique, a teenager from Honduras whom Nazario first wrote about in a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper series from which this book springs. It is also an anthropology of the peripatetic youth bent on braving the obstacles that stand between their home villages and the North American cities where their mothers moved in search of jobs, money and the chance to better their family's lives back home. "Enrique's Journey" explores the unintended, and largely underreported, consequences of those choices.

Desperately poor, Enrique's mother left Honduras when he was 5 years old, planning to send money back from America and promising to return quickly. Years passed. Enrique was tossed between family members' homes; he turned to sniffing glue; the memory of his mother became an obsession. After more than a decade of waiting for her, Enrique set out for the North. But reality didn't live up to his expectations. His mother's absence had created a void her presence could never fill.

Nazario begins, as Enrique did, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Using her extensive interviews with him as her map, she retraces his steps, telling the story as though she had sat beside him on each step of his journey.

It's adventure travel for masochists. "I am not a brave person," Nazario writes at the outset.

And yet the risks she took to integrate herself into the world of the migrants who ride atop northbound Central American trains - "el tren de la muerte," the train of death, as one is called - suggest otherwise. Nazario and her fellow passengers fear rape, robbery and death at the hands of gangs, bandits and Mexican immigration authorities. She illustrates the horror by bringing in stories of other migrants she encountered, like Wendy, a 17-year-old raped by five gangsters, and Carlos Roberto Díaz Osorto, also 17, who lost a leg and a foot trying to jump a moving train.

Nazario also pays homage to people who have dedicated their lives to aiding migrants. There is Olga Sánchez Martínez, who cares for those who've lost limbs in train accidents; villagers in Veracruz and Oaxaca who rush the trains with packages of food and clothing; a bishop who raises money to create a migrant shelter.

A remarkable reporter, Nazario has immersed herself completely in this world, giving it depth and texture. In a church soup kitchen, "two big fans spin to a stop, so everyone can hear grace," she writes in a typically vivid description. "In the still air, the room turns hot, nearly suffocating; perspiration trickles down the migrants' faces and soaks their shirts.

. . . Spoons of stew touch lips before bottoms hit the seats." But although Nazario's reporter's instincts have served her well, the book still reads like a newspaper series. Facts, phrases and explanations occasionally echo 10 or 20 pages later, as if she were filling in readers who hadn't seen an earlier segment. The writing tends toward newspaper style: a breathtaking lead paragraph, a quick summation of what's happened so far, a series of statistics. But these stylistic flaws are generally cosmetic, and don't detract from Nazario's main argument. In the tradition of Jacob Riis, the late-19th-century photographer of immigrant life in New York City tenements, Nazario has illuminated the modern immigrant experience; with Enrique, she has given a voice and a face to these migrant children.

Nazario is critical of what she calls America's "schizophrenic" immigration policies, in which enforcement of immigration laws is weak and "labor-intensive industries" like agriculture and construction rely on cheap immigrant labor.

Nothing will change, she argues, until we bolster native economies. Parents who migrate without their children and assume they can easily return to claim them are trapped by tightened border security that keeps undocumented workers stuck inside America as much as outside. This, she writes, has contributed to the dissolution of families and the rise of gangs and teen pregnancy. Enrique, like others who were left behind, is deeply resentful of his mother; in America, he continues to struggle with alcohol and substance abuse. He fights constantly with his family. "You think that filling our bellies is the same thing as love," he tells an aunt who left his cousins to work in America. And yet, when Enrique's girlfriend in Honduras gives birth to their daughter, he urges her to leave the child behind and join him in America, repeating the cycle his mother began.

Sarah Wildman is a Milena Jesenska journalism fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and a senior correspondent for The American Prospect.

• General Information

History of Moscow

Moscow has seen its fair share of history, from invasions to revolutions : these days it is home to a wealth of culture and is one of the most populated capitals in the world.

The name of the Russian city comes from the river that courses through it, the  Moskva . While the exact date of the founding of the metropolis is unknown, it was first mentioned by name in 1147 , and was a convenient meeting place well accessed by rivers and roads.

Medieval Moscow

This small trading post grew and was fortified over the next few centuries, with churches and monasteries being built. However, the 13th century saw a Mongol invasion burning the city to the ground and killing all who lived there, with Moscow becoming a Grand Duchy within the Mongol Empire. The city prospered and would eventually lead a united Russian army in victory over the Mongols , ending up as capital city by the end of the 15th century.

During the 16th to 17th centuries under the Tsardom of Russia , Moscow's population grew rapidly, and many of the monuments emblematic of the city were constructed, from  Novodevichy Convent  to Saint Basil's Cathedral  and the Kremlin . Despite its growth, it suffered  famine, plagues, attacks by the Crimean Tatars and destructive fires - unsurprising considering much of the city was built of wood.

Discover more on our Walking Tour of Medieval Moscow !

Under the Russian Empire

When  Peter the Great  founded the Russian Empire in 1712 and made Saint Petersburg its capital, Moscow was suddenly relegated to second place and population quickly declined. However, over the ensuing century, the city's infrastructure was built up and connections to the capital were created. When  Napoleon invaded in 1812 , Moscow's inhabitants were evacuated, but not before allegedly setting fire to the city to sabotage the French forces. The city's destruction was claimed as a great success by the Muscovites, and it was quickly rebuilt afterwards: Moscow State University was founded, the Bolshoi Theatre was built, and any number of monuments celebrating the city's victory were put up.

Throughout this time, Moscow was also experiencing a population boom, with a massive influx of peasants moving to the metropolis from rural farms in search of work. In stark contrast to the lavish architecture being built, the city was also filled with poverty-stricken slums, and increasing discontent lead to revolution .

Bolshevik Revolution & Soviet Russia

Mass political and social unrest instigated an attempted revolution in 1905, but it wasn't until 1917 that the movement really took hold of Russia. That year saw the February and October Revolutions , followed by a Civil War  which ended with the  monarchy being abolished , the royal family being executed, and the  Soviet Union being established  by the socialist political party known as the  Bolsheviks . In 1922, the Communist government made  Moscow capital again .

The Russian Army was victorious in defending the city from German offensives in the Battle of Moscow during World War II , and the Soviet leadership left its mark on the capital  over the next five decades. Improved roads, bus, train and metro networks modernised Moscow; high-rise apartments provided a solution to serious housing crisis, and atheist ideology saw the destruction or conversion of over half of the country's churches. Remnants of the Soviet state can still be seen today across much of the city, for example in the statues and artwork throughout the Moscow Metro .

In 1980, Moscow hosted the Summer Olympic Games , an event which was boycotted by the United States and over 60 other countries because of the Soviet-Afghan War. While this increased the Cold War tensions that gripped the two superpowers, there was no denying that Russia was liberalising under leader Mickhail Gorbachev's "perestroika" reforms.

Moscow since 1991

1991 saw the Soviet Union being dissolved, with Moscow remaining capital of the Russian Federation . Enormous population growth since the 1990s means it is now the largest city on the European continent, with over 13 million people living within the city limits alone. Political, economic and social changes have "Westernised" Moscow, which can be seen in the presence of international chains in the city and in the restoration of churches demolished under Stalin, like the  Cathedral of Christ the Saviour .

Intrigued? Our guided walking tours of Soviet Moscow , Communist Moscow and Cold War Bunker 42 will immerse you in the city's fascinating history.

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Russian assault on key east Ukraine city is weakening, Kyiv says, as war hits 600 days

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An attempt over days by Russian forces to storm a strategically important city in eastern Ukraine appears to be running out of steam, officials in Kyiv asserted Monday, as the Kremlin’s war entered its 600th day.

Ukrainian forces repelled 15 Russian attacks from four directions on Avdiivka over the previous 24 hours, the Ukrainian armed forces General Staff said.

That compared with up to 60 attacks a day in the middle of last week, according to Vitalii Barabash, head of the city administration. The slackening suggests that the Russian effort to capture Avdiivka has “deflated,” Barabash said.

A Washington-based think tank broadly concurred with that assessment. “Russian forces continued offensive operations aimed at encircling Avdiivka … but have yet to make further gains amid a likely decreasing tempo of Russian operations in the area,” the Institute for the Study of War said in an analysis published late Sunday.

Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, told a U.N. Security Council meeting last Friday that the ramped-up attacks in the east amounted to a new stage in Moscow’s campaign in Ukraine.

With the looming onset of wintry conditions that will limit military operations, both sides have been seeking battlefield breakthroughs that could invigorate their efforts and raise morale.

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Ukraine launched its own counteroffensive about four months ago. It has made some headway , but the limited success has underlined the daunting challenge of taking on the Kremlin’s more numerous forces.

Kyiv’s Western allies insist that their military and financial support for Ukraine will continue, even as the Israeli-Hamas war rages and competes for resources.

U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday that the Biden administration would ask Congress for a combined aid package for Ukraine and Israel worth more than $2 billion.

Ukrainian officials have said their troops are holding out against fierce Russian efforts to wrest control of Avdiivka, a heavily fortified city.

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Avdiivka lies in the northern suburbs of the city of Donetsk, in a region of the same name that Russian forces partially occupy . Avdiivka’s location grants Ukrainian forces artillery advantages over the city and could serve as a springboard for them to liberate Donetsk.

It is not possible to verify battlefield claims by either side. Misinformation and disinformation have played a central role in the war.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, speaking during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, claimed that Ukrainian forces had failed to make any significant gains during their counteroffensive. Kyiv’s troops are trying to make headway without air cover and have encountered multilayered Russian defenses.

Putin, in an interview with the China Media Group released Monday, claimed that Ukraine’s counteroffensive had achieved “no results so far, only massive losses .”

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Moscow can expect more diplomatic pressure from the 57-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in coming months, according to the chief diplomat of North Macedonia, which currently holds the body’s rotating presidency.

The country’s foreign minister, Bujar Osmani, urged Russia to cease its attacks on Ukraine and withdraw its forces. He spoke at a news conference in Kyiv on Monday.

The OSCE was created during the Cold War to help defuse tensions between East and West.

Meanwhile, Russian children’s rights ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova claimed Monday that her office had helped 35 Ukrainian children reunite with their relatives in Ukraine and other countries.

Zelensky petitions NATO defense ministers for more support to fight Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is making a personal pitch to NATO and other defense leaders from around the world for military aid for Kyiv.

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Lvova-Belova, who was indicted along with Putin by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges connected to the deportation of children from Ukraine, contended that Russia never opposed reuniting children with their families.

Qatar’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying it had been involved in recent family reunifications through its embassy in Moscow, but it provided no details.

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