Reddit reviews God's Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre

Drug cartels are a MAJOR problem in mexico my friend, especially on the border. In fact it's know as the Mexican Drug War. People are consistently kidnapped, beheaded, and thrown in the river in Juarez, which is visible from texas. Drug lords control entire towns. A really fascinating first-hand look at this problem is "God's Middle Finger", a journalist's account of his time in a drug-cartel town in the Sierra Madre mountains.

Fun fact: That type of folky music is known as corridos and they're very popular in Mexico. In recent years it has become fashionable for the drug barons of Sierra Madre mountains to hire musicians to write these songs about them, extolling their violent lifestyles and the quality of their marijuana. They're the rustic, Mexican version of gangster rap songs. These songs are known as narcocorridos.

Source:http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Middle-Finger-Lawless-Sierra/dp/1416534407

I second the Horwitz nomination and add Richard Grant, author of "God's Middle Finger" and "Crazy River."
Both of those demonstrate a spirit for and enjoyment of adventure that was the core energy in Bryson's "In A Sunburned Country" and "A Walk in the Woods".