Highway of Tears

Gabby Petito. Natalee Holloway. Laci Peterson. These names probably sound familiar. Lauren Cho, Stephany Flores, and Latoyia Figueroa might not. This illustrates what news anchor Gwen Ifill dubbed “missing white woman syndrome,” the disproportionate media coverage in missing persons cases that attractive, upper-middle-class white women receive.

McDiarmid’s moving book illustrates this phenomenon, following the cases of thousands of Indigenous women who have disappeared from a stretch of road in British Columbia dubbed “The Highway of Tears.” For decades, the cases garnered little media attention until a white woman named Nicole Hoar disappeared in 2002, bringing more resources and coverage.

In… show more.

The title refers to a remote, 450-mile stretch of highway in British Columbia where at least thirty Indigenous women have been murdered or gone missing since the 1970s. “Those who disappear in this place are not easily found,” writes McDiarmid, who grew up in the area and remembers some of the desperate searches for those reported missing. Indigenous women are six times more likely to be murdered in Canada, and racism within police forces and the justice system make it less likely their killers will be identified or punished. This book is a searing indictment of systemic prejudice, official indifference,… show more.