Charles Clyde Bowden (July 20, 1945 – August 30, 2014) was an American non-fiction author, journalist and essayist based in Las Cruces, New Mexico.[1] He was best known for his work documenting violence on the Mexico-United States border, especially in and around Ciudad Juarez.[2]
Bowden was married and divorced twice, and had long-term relationships and professional partnerships with writer Mary Martha Miles and research librarian Molly Molloy.[4][5] He died in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on August 30, 2014, after a brief illness. He was survived by his son and two siblings.[5] He left a number of manuscripts that are being published posthumously by The Bowden Publishing Project, which is also reissuing some of his earlier books.[10][11][12] His work and life were the subject of the Spring 2019 special issue of Journal of the Southwest,[13] and a related book, America's Most Alarming Writer: Essays on the Life and Work of Charles Bowden.[14]
The Impact of Energy Development on Water Resources in Arid Lands: Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography (Tucson: University of Arizona, Office of Arid Lands Studies, 1975)
Killing the Hidden Waters (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1977)
Street Signs Chicago: Neighborhood and Other Illusions of Big City Life / text by Charles Bowden and Lew Kreinberg; photographs by Richard Younker; foreword by William Appleman Williams (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 1981)
Blue Desert (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1986)
Frog Mountain Blues / text by Charles Bowden; photographs by Jack W. Dykinga (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1987)
Trust Me: Charles Keating and the Missing Billions / text by Charles Bowden and Michael Binstein (New York: Random House,1988)
Mezcal (Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 1988)
Red Line (New York: Norton, 1989)
Desierto: Memories of the Future (New York: Norton, 1991)
The Sonoran Desert / photographs by Jack W. Dykinga; text by Charles Bowden (New York: H. N. Abrams, 1992)
The Secret Forest / text by Charles Bowden; photographs by Jack W. Dykinga; introduction by Paul S. Martin (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1993)
Seasons of the Coyote: the Legend and Lore of an American Icon / essays by Charles Bowden, et al (San Francisco: HarperCollins West, 1994)
Frog Mountain Blues ; photographs by Jack W. Dykinga; with a new afterword by the author (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1994)
Blood Orchid: An Unnatural History of America (New York: Random House, 1995)
Chihuahua: Pictures From the Edge / photographs by Virgil Hancock; essay by Charles Bowden (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996)
Stone Canyons of the Colorado Plateau / photographs by Jack W. Dykinga; text by Charles Bowden (New York: Abrams, 1996)
The Sierra Pinacate / Julian D. Hayden; photographs by Jack Dykinga; essays by Charles Bowden and Bernard L. Fontana (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1998)
Juárez: The Laboratory of our Future / text by Charles Bowden; preface by Noam Chomsky; afterword by Eduardo Galeano (New York: Aperture, 1998)
Paul Dickerson, 1961–1997 / essay by Charles Bowden (New York: American Fine Art Co., 2000)
Eugene Richards (New York: Phaidon, 2001)
Down by the River: Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family (New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2002)
Blues for Cannibals: The Notes from Underground (New York: North Point Press, 2002)
Killing the Hidden Waters / with a new introduction by the author (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003)
A Shadow in the City : Confessions of an Undercover Drug Warrior (New York: Harcourt, 2005)
Sometimes a Great Notion / text by Ken Kesey; introduction by Charles Bowden, pp. xiii–xix (Penguin Books, 2006)
Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb / text by Nick Schou; preface by Charles Bowden (New York: Nation Books, 2006)
Inferno / text by Charles Bowden; photographs by Michael P. Berman (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006) Winner of the Border Regional Library Association's Southwest Book Award
Exodus/Éxodo / text by Charles Bowden, photographs by Julián Cardona (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008)
Trinity (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2009; with photographs by Michael P. Berman)
Some of the Dead are Still Breathing: Living in the Future (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, 2009)
The Charles Bowden Reader (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010; edited by Erin Almeranti and Mary Martha Miles; foreword by Jim Harrison)
Dreamland: The Way Out of Juárez / text by Charles Bowden; illustrations by Alice Leora Briggs (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010)
Murder City: Ciudad Juárez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields / text by Charles Bowden; photographs by Julián Cardona (New York: Nation City, 2011)
El Sicario: The Autobiography of a Mexican Assassin / co-editors Molly Molloy and Charles Bowden (North Sidney, NSW: Random House Australia, 2011)
Dead When I Got Here: Asylum from the Madness (2014); Executive Producer of documentary in collaboration with Director/Producer Mark Aitken – deadwhenigothere.org
Some of the Dead Are Still Breathing: Living in the Future (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018)
Dakotah: The Return of the Future (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2019; foreword by Terry Tempest Williams)
Jericho (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2020; foreword by Charles D'Ambrosio)
The Red Caddy: Into the Unknown with Edward Abbey (Austin: University of Texas Press, September 2020; foreword by Luis Alberto Urrea)
Sonata (Austin: University of Texas Press, October 2020; foreword by Alfredo Corchado)
