Trozas - by B Traven (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A young Indigenous laborer trapped in a brutal Chiapas mahogany camp witnesses the violence and exploitation of debt slavery in the fourth volume of B. Traven's iconic Jungle Novels.

When the profit-hungry Montellano brothers take over a remote mahogany plantation in the jungles of Chiapas, the Indigenous workers already trapped there find themselves subjected to even more brutal demands. Among them is Andrés Ugaldo, a young laborer whose grueling work hauling enormous mahogany logs through swamps and jungle exposes him to hunger, violence, disease, and the ever-present threat of death. As the plantation owners tighten their grip and treat their workers as expendable commodities, Andrés and his fellow laborers begin to recognize the shared injustice that binds them together.

A harrowing and unsparing novel of exploitation, resistance, and human endurance, Trozas is one of B. Traven's most powerful indictments of the human cost hidden behind a most coveted natural resource.

Review Quotes

Praise for B. Traven

"[B. Traven] is coming to be recognized as one of the narrative masters of the twentieth century . . . Readers who dismiss the genius of B. Traven do so at their peril."
--Alan Cheuse, The New York Times

"The Jungle Novels constitute one of the richest portraits of revolution in all literature."
--University Review

"Great storytellers often arise like Judaic just men to exemplify and rehearse the truth for their generation. The elusive B. Traven was such a man."
--A. L. Rosenzweig, The Washington Post Book World

"Traven is a riveting storyteller."
--Elis Lotozo, The Philadelphia Inquirer

About the Author

B. Traven (1882-1969) was a pen name of one of the most enigmatic writers of the twentieth century. The life and work of the author, whose other aliases include Hal Croves, Traven Torsvan, and Ret Marut, has been called "the greatest literary mystery of the twentieth century." Of German descent and Mexican nationality, he has sold more than thirty million books, in more than thirty languages. Films of his work include The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which won three Oscars; Macario, the first Mexican film to be nominated for an Oscar; and The Death Ship, a cult classic in Germany.