Folk Saints of the Borderlands

In Folk Saints of the Borderlands Victims, Bandits, and Healers, Griffith introduces us to some unforgettable saints-in-the-making (or not). Meet: Juan Soldado ("John Soldier") of Tijuana, miracle worker and unofficial patron saint and protector of illegal immigrants. But was the real Juan a martyr or a murderer? Jesus Malverde, stagecoach robber and Robin Hood figure of nineteenth-century Sinaloa, Mexico, who has become the narcosanto, or saint of the drug dealers. Pancho Villa, bandit, revolutionary general, and invader of New Mexico. Since his assassination in 1923 he has gained a reputation as a spiritual helper, but women who channel his spirit are advised to beware. Even in the afterlife he's a "groper." El Nino Fidencio, a childlike, playful figure who loved to sing, dance and dress up, began his career as a healer at the age of eightThe New York Times praises Griffith: "He writes of the beliefs and customs of people far different from himself with a gentle tone and spirit of restraint and simple decency."