Deborah Levenson Wins Best Book Prize in Latin American Studies

Deborah T. Levenson, professor of history at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, has been awarded the Marysa Navarro Best Book Prize from the New England Council of Latin American Studies. She was honored for her book Adios Nino: The Gangs of Guatemala City and the Politics of Death (Duke University Press, 2013).

The citation for the prize states that “without shirking from addressing the truly horrible crimes committed by the gangs, Levenson shows the economic, political, and social conditions that fomented them and continue to incubate future gang members. Using interviews, conversations, and oral histories, she provides an empathic portrait of gang members, their families, and friends to present a nuanced understanding of Guatemala City life inside and outside of gang life. What makes Levenson’s book so convincing and her so successful at describing gang members and their lives is the way she sews them together with her own personal experiences.”

Dr. Levenson has been on the faculty at Boston College since 1995. Earlier, she taught for seven years at Columbia University in New York City. Professor Levenson holds a master’s degree in history from the University of Massachusetts at Boston and a Ph.D. in history from New York University.