Dying to live : a story of U.S. immigration in an age of global apartheid /
Author / Creator: | Nevins, Joseph. |
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Imprint: | San Francisco : Open Media/City Lights Books, c2008. |
Description: | 255 p : ill., maps ; 21 cm. |
Language: | English |
Series: | Open Media series Open Media book. |
Subject: | |
Format: | E-Resource Print Book |
URL for this record: | http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/7315360 |
Summary: | A compelling account of U.S. immigration and border enforcement told through the journey of one man who perished in California''s Imperial Valley while trying to reunite with his wife and child in Los Angeles. At a time when Republicans and Democrats alike embrace increasingly militaristic border enforcement policies under the guise of security, and local governments around the country are taking matters into their own hands, Dying to Live offers a timely confrontation to such prescriptions and puts a human face on the rapidly growing crisis. Moreover, it provides a valuable perspective on the historical geography of U.S./Mexico relations, and immigration and boundary enforcement, illustrating its profound impact on people''s lives and deaths. In the end, the author offers a provocative, human-rights-based vision of what must be done to stop the fatalities and injustices endured by migrants and their loved ones. "In Dying to Live, Joseph Nevins and Mizue Aizeki have produced an important and visually moving book that adds to our knowledge of the border and its place in history. Nevins'' painstaking research documents the development of the Imperial Valley--its industrial agriculture, its divided cities, and the chasms between rich and poor, Mexican and anglo, that have marred its growth. Through the valley runs the border, and Nevins'' accounts of the growth of border enforcement on the U.S. side, and the racism of its legal justifications, will be a strong weapon for human rights activists. Mizue Aizeki takes her camera and tells the story of Julio Cesar Gallegos, who died in the desert trying to make it across. Her images of the stacked bodies of border crossers held in refrigerator trucks, and the barrenness of the ocotillo cactus on the flat hardpan are eloquent testimony to the terrible risks and human costs imposed on migrants. Her beautifully composed portraits of Gallegos'' family make a direct appeal to the heart in a way that words cannot. And her documentation of border protests and immigrant rights demonstrations, including the rows of jugs of water put out in the desert to save lives, are all compelling evidence that there is a struggle going on to halt the human rights crisis she and Nevins document." |
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Physical Description: | 255 p : ill., maps ; 21 cm. |
Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-228) and index. |
ISBN: | 9780872864863 0872864863 |