on immigration and border issues
Abecedario de Juárez: An Illustrated Lexicon by Julián Cardona and Alice Leora Briggs (2021).
Absolutely brutal illustrated dictionary of the carnage that traumatized Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, during the height of the drug war from 2008-2012.
Central America’s Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration by Aviva Chomsky (2021).
An illuminating history of the past century, focused on civil wars and social change in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Essential background for those trying to understand migration from Central America today–and how the US has contributed to the root causes of migration.
Eating NAFTA: Trade, Food Policies, and the Destruction of Mexico by Alyshia Gálvez (2018).
A fascinating read about how NAFTA has disrupted traditional foodways, impoverished farmers, and driven a widespread decline in health in Mexico.
Border Walls: Security and the War on Terror in the United States, India and Israel by Reece Jones (2012).
A sobering study of three regions of the world where heavily militarized borders divide regions with great wealth disparities. A good overview of how 9/11 changed the US-Mexico border and recast immigration as a homeland security issue.
The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail by Oscar Martínez and Francisco Goldman (2014).
“La Bestia” is what migrants call the freight trains that many ride through Mexico on their way to the US. Martínez, a journalist for the Salvadoran paper El Faro, goes to incredible lengths to report firsthand accounts of this harrowing journey.
Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario (2006).
The impressively reported true story of a boy who travels alone from Honduras to find his mother in the US.
Sanctuary and Asylum: A Social and Political History by Linda Rabben (2016).
We Built the Wall: How the US Keeps Out Asylum Seekers from Mexico, Central America and Beyond by Eileen Truax (2018).
The Devil’s Highway: A True Story by Luis Alberto Urrea (2005).
The undisputed godfather of all border nonfiction. Urrea tells the true story of a group of migrants trying to make their way through the desert.
Solito by Javier Zamora (2022).
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer.
Mary Fontana ~ Author 