Praise for A Not-So-Distant Horror:
“[A] remarkable book.”—Noam Chomsky
Told through the life story of a young man who perished in the California desert, Dying to Live is a compelling account of US immigration/border enforcement and the rapidly growing death toll among migrants. Stunning photos by Mizue Aizeki complement the text.
Joseph Nevins authored Operation Gatekeeper: The Rise of the Illegal Alien and the Making of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary (Routledge, 2002), and A Not-So-Distant Horror (Cornell, 2005). His writings have appeared in the Boston Review, The Christian Science Monitor, and the International Herald Tribune.
Adult/High School
Ten years ago Julio CA©sar Gallegos, one of countless immigrants, attempted to reunite with his family in Los Angeles and died of dehydration while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in California's Imperial Valley. In Dying to Live , Nevins not only tells Gallegos's story, but also presents the geographic, historical, and political context of the U.S-Mexico border. Gallegos's motivations, struggles, and sacrifices serve as examples throughout the book of both past and present social stratification, political hypocrisy, and "global apartheid." Including photographs and maps, the book details the history, policies, and economics that have driven and prevented Mexican migration to the United States. The social and economic links between the two countries are described, primarily in relation to the agricultural industry in the border states. The strength of this book lies in the wealth of research and information presented on the history and politics of the border regions of Mexico and California. Teens will not only find the author's information valuable, but will also revel in the sources presented in the bibliography. However, researchers looking for insight into migration through Mexico from other Latin American countries will not find much information in this title. The scholarly tone and depth of the material make this book best suited for advanced readers and researchers.-Lynn Rashid, Marriots Ridge High School, Marriotsville, MD
1 The bodies 17
2 The desert 29
3 The border 73
4 Juchipila, MexUSA 123
5 Beyond the boundary 165
Appendices 200
Bibliography 205
Notes 229
Index 245
Anonymous
Posted June 21, 2008
This is the best book I've ever read on the U.S.-Mexico border, and U.S. immigration in general. It does a great job of putting what takes place along the border in a global context, while grounding it in the real-life story of one migrant and his family and the specifics of the histories of particular places. I cannot recommend this book enough.
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Overview
Praise for A Not-So-Distant Horror:
“[A] remarkable book.”—Noam Chomsky
Told through the life story of a young man who perished in the California desert, Dying to Live is a compelling account of US immigration/border enforcement and the rapidly growing death toll among migrants. Stunning photos by Mizue Aizeki complement the text.
Joseph Nevins authored Operation Gatekeeper: The Rise of the Illegal Alien and the Making of the U.S.-Mexico ...