Book Review

From the big picture of the origins and state of marijuana prohibition in America to the close-up portrait of one of the country's most pot-friendly and -dependent local economies, Doug Fine delivers with "Too Big to Fail."

With the arrest of Zetas leader Miguel Angel Trevino Morales on Monday, the two books on the Mexican drug war we review this week couldn't be more timely. Be forewarned, though, some of this is really nasty stuff.

Marc Mauer is back with a new edition of the grounbreaking "Race to Incarcerate," this time with an updated graphic novel version designed to take his important message to a younger and broader audience.

We review two books on marijuana -- an academic treatise on marijuana policy in England, and a not-so-academic account of hanging out with pot outlaws in the California hills. Both have their virtues.

Dr. Carl Hart went from the mean streets of Miami to the halls of academe. His new book, High Price, tells his story -- and delivers a blistering critique of drug policy, drug science and how it's understood, and race and class bias along the way. It's a gripping read, too.

Martin Lee has produced an excellent comprehensive history of marijuana, and Jim Rendon pays homage to those outlaw growers and breeders who bring us things like OG Kush and Granddaddy Purps. We review their books.

Opium -- boon, bane, or both? We review three recent books on various aspects of the poppy and its derivatives.

With a new president taking over, Mexico has a chance to rethink its disastrous war on the cartels. Two new books on the Mexican drug wars have a few thoughts about where it's been and where it should go next.

A brilliant documentary by filmmaker Rebecca Richman Cohen tells the story of Montana's medical marijuana wars. Code of the West is definitely worth watching.

What do pot-growing Kentucky good ol' boys and crack-slinging South Central LA hustlers have in common? We review a pair of new books and make the connections.