eziza" is a juju priest in benin city. juju is a spiritual practice common in west africa. for a fee, eziza demonstrated the protective blessing he performs on migrants who are g about >> to cross that big river. that river is very bad. >> brangham: the ocean? >> the ocean. there is many spirits in that ocean. >> brangham: but anti- trafficking groups say the rituals often serve another purpose: to threaten the young people that if they run from their smugglers, they'll be cursed and will suffer terribly. >> people generally believe that there is power in these, they believe! >> brangham: it's just a tool of coercion. >> exactly. exactly. just a tool of coercion! >> brangham: they fear that if they run away, something will happen to them roland nwoha runs a local nonprofit that's been sounabng the alarm t trafficking. his group, idia renaissance, tries to reach vulnerable kidsan teach them skills they can use to earn a ving here in nigeria. but he says it's hard to combat the pull of europe, especially in the digital age. >> we live in a society that is very westernized. th

for the pbs newsholl, i'm m brangham in benin city, nigeria. >> woodruff: every month, "now read this," our book clu partnership with "the new york times" features a different book. jeffrey brown talks withleuthor min jiand announces our pick for august. >> brown: history failed us, ut no matter, the opening line of the acclaimvel patch patch, a page pachinko. it was our book club pick this month. i know many red along with us and a number have sent in questions for author min jin lee, whom i'm delighted to welcome now. hello, and i'm glad you could be part of the book club. >> thanks for having me. >> brown: address the first line, history has failed us. tell those who didn't read the book or are less aware of it. what were you after? >> that's my thesis statement, and i was really trying to argue thatas think history hailed ordinary people around the world, because we're not, document're not recorded, we don't understand what's happened to us because all of us, historically, because so many people didn't leave primary ndocuments. it that historians are bad people, they're not elitis