Óscar Martínez is a young reporter from El Salvador. He has reported for the digital newspaper El Faro for many years. Because of the bold nature of the newspaper, its reporters have been subject to government surveillance, including Martínez.

In "A History of Violence: Living and Dying in Central America," Martínez makes contact with a wide array of people who have been impacted by or are responsible for the violence that plagues El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico's southern border. Each chapter is a stand-alone report from a different criminal activity, including human trafficking, drug trafficking, local extortion, and political corruption. The book has matter-of-fact descriptions of violence, including torture, murder, and rape.

How he makes his contacts is not described, but Martínez speaks with everyone from corrupt politicians and police to street drug dealers to prisoners to women who have been subject to forced prostitution to military attachés. He travels from an indigenous community where people have been kicked off their land to a community well in the process of being excavated by a forensic anthropologist to a prison cell in a tiny police station where a hitman escaped. Martínez narrates the interactions between police, politicians, maras, and cartels in order to describe a region that, in his estimation, is stuck in a vicious cycle of violence.

While the writing might spare some gory details, it is businesslike and makes for a fast read. When put together, the chapters show just how desperate this region is for peace and stability.

One complaint about this book is that Martínez often switches between nicknames and real names of the people he is describing. This causes some slight confusion. There is also little in the way of history, as the books title suggests there should be. A brief connection is made between the flight of refugees during the Salvadoran Civil War and their eventual deportation from the United States, but this is almost in passing. A better title might be "Stories of Violence: Living and Dying in Central America." ( )