Dangerous Divide
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Chicago Review Press
Published:1st May '14
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2015 International Latino Book Awards Winner for Best Political / Current Affairs Book How do we balance border security and America's need for a vital workforce while continuing to provide access to the American dream? Since the attacks of 9/11, the United States has steadily ramped up security along the U.S.-Mexico border, transforming America's legendary Southwest into a frontier of fear. Veteran journalist Peter Eichstaedt roams this fabled region from Tucson, Arizona, to El Paso, Texas, meeting with migrants, border security advocates, and communities ravaged by cross-border crime. Eichstaedt finds that despite tens of thousands of border agents and the expenditure of billions of dollars, an estimated one million Mexicans and Central Americans continue to cross the border each year, filling jobs that have become the underpinnings of the U.S. economy. Rather than building more and better barricades, Eichstaedt argues that the U.S. must reform its immigration and drug laws and acknowledge that costly, counterproductive, and antiquated policies have created deadly circumstances on both sides of the border. Recognizing the truth of America's long and tortured relations with Mexico must be followed by legitimizing the contributions made by migrants to the American way of life.
"The author's vignettes of his interactions with a diverse cast of characters are insightful and engrossing." -- Publishers Weekly
"The author bolsters his astute reportage with interviews with migrants desperate for American opportunities, controversial border control crusaders, politicians and law enforcement agents. He also provides a fascinating tour of Tucson's Border Patrol offices and their complex surveillance of various ports of entry." -- Kirkus Reviews
"Colorado journalist Peter Eichstaedt, who has spent more than 20 years reporting on conflicts across the globe, turns his sharp eyes on the United States-Mexico border with an expertly reported, exquisitely human on-the-ground look at our country's complex immigration issues." -- 5280 Magazine
"This is a provocative and engaging book--a useful read for anyone seeking to understand current challenges and opportunities along our southern border." -- New York Journal of Books
"In this provocative and engaging book, Peter Eichstaedt has given us an insightful and fascinating on-the-ground account of how the US-Mexico divide has turned into an increasingly militarized frontier of fear." -- Peter Andreas, author of Smuggler Nation: How Illicit Trade Made America and Border Games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide
"Peter Eichstaedt brings the wise perspective of an experienced international journalist, long-time resident of the Southwest, and critical humanist to this fine account of the U.S.-Mexico border, a complex region much neglected or misunderstood by U.S. politicians and opinion makers." -- Howard Campbell, professor of anthropology, University of Texas-El Paso
"In The Dangerous Divide , Peter Eichstaedt brilliantly illuminates the strange world of the U.S.-Mexican border, a world inhabited by ruthless drug traffickers and gunrunners; desperate yet hopeful migrants; politicians of all stripes and views; multiple layers of law enforcement; bigots, paranoiacs, and nativists; and, of course, lots of ordinary folks. By exploring these people's realities, Eichstaedt demonstrates how a long legacy of often-willful misunderstanding has made two neighboring nations into perennial strangers, and rendered rational solutions elusive. A must-read for anyone hoping to understand the significance of our southern border." -- Timothy J. Henderson, distinguished research professor and department chair, Department of History, Auburn University Montgomery
"Having narrated conflict from Afghanistan to Somalia to the Congo, Peter Eichstaedt brings a global perspective to the challenges and opportunities along the US-Mexico border. A thoughtful and balanced read." - David J. Danelo, field research director, Foreign Policy Research Institute, and author, The Border: Exploring the U.S.-Mexican Divide
"A comprehensive, on-the-ground account...As Eichstaedt addresses the tangle of individual issues, he sees how they're woven together. And he offers suggestions for something we all want: a resolution to the heartbreak, violence, and economic degradation of the current circumstances." -- The Santa Fe New Mexican
"Investigative reporter Peter Eichstaedt offers a thoughtful examination of U.S.-Mexico border issues by going directly to players." -- Tuscon Weekly
ISBN: 9781613748367
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
256 pages