Charles Bowden grimly chronicled the toughest stories of the U.S.-Mexico border. But he was once full of hope.
(LA Times Auto Racing)

When Charles Bowden died in 2014, America lost one of its most intrepid investigative journalists covering U.S. border policy and the desert Southwest. The job was grueling and heart-wrenching, and it showed: The decades he spent reporting put cracks and wrinkles in his writing. In `Murder City,`...