Desert America: A Journey Through Our Most Divided Landscape

by Rubén Martínez

"Desert America is an uninsulated wire running through the hard-bitten, right-now, rough-edged Southwest, a land still being born. Go ahead and grab first comes shock―maybe of recognition, maybe alarm―then you keep buzzing for page after electric page. You can't let go."―William deBuys, author of A Great Aridness and River of Traps

The economic boom―and the devastation left in its wake―was writ nowhere as large as on the American West. Over the past decade, the most iconic of American landscapes has undergone a political and demographic upheaval comparable only to the opening of the frontier. In Desert America , a work of powerful reportage and memoir, acclaimed author Rubén Martínez explores a world of drug addiction flourishing in the shadow of some of America's richest zip codes, an exclusive Texas enclave that coexists with bloodshed on the banks of the Rio Grande, and Native Americans hunting down Mexican migrants crossing the most desolate stretch of the border.

Desert America details Martinez's own love for this most contested region and reveals that the great frontier is now in the forefront of the vast disparities that are redefining the very idea of America.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Westerns, Politics, Social Issues, Memoir, Nature

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 2012

About the author

Rubén Martínez, an Emmy-winning journalist and poet, is the author of Crossing Over, Desert America and The New Americans. He lives in Los Angeles, where he holds the Fletcher Jones Chair in Literature and Writing at Loyola Marymount University.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/rubenm...

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would highly recommend this book for anybody who is interested in understanding the southern American West. The chapters that deeply delve into the areas where he lived for a significant period of time like Joshua Tree and Northern New Mexico are the strongest. As someone who has lived in three of the four states he writes about, it is my perception that much of the complicated nature of the interactions he describes among people of different ethnic backgrounds in this region are authentic. Unlike the smug hype you hear from the Chambers of Commerce and their mindless mantra of the beauties of "cultural diversity" that are used as a marketing tool to describe their locales. His description of the Western real estate boom and bust of the 2000's is one of the best summaries of this bubble I have ever read and worth the price of the book by itself. Since the book was written in the depths of the bust, as I finished it, I found myself wishing for an update describing the echo boom happening now with all the new money being dropped into a region where issues created by the class, economic and ethnic differences are even more pronounced than they were 10 years ago.

[Amanda Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found a lot of this book illuminating, but I read it in fits and starts because it couldn't always hold my attention. Ultimately, there isn't a compelling central narrative beyond the author's own experience, and I most enjoyed when he got out of the way and focused on issues within the desert itself. I almost gave up before the chapter on Marfa and am glad I didn't. Much of the information I take away makes me feel implicated as part of the problem (perhaps rightly so), but I continue to be intrigued by the desert and interested in what forces shape and change its cultural geography.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so comprehensive that I barely know where to begin. It’s dense with facts yet personal because much of the information is gleaned from conversations with desert people from various cultures and backgrounds. We come to know these people as Martinez does: while roaming around the land, sifting through historical records they’ve gathered, sitting around in their living rooms. Martinez also skillfully weaves in the story of his own difficult life in northern New Mexico.

I’ve lived in the West for over 30 years, but learned much more about it from this book. As Martinez points out, the vastness of the land tends to obscure class and racial struggles, widespread addiction, and poverty. These themes aren’t presented in the abstract, but as life stories of real individuals. The action takes place mostly around Joshua Tree (CA), northern New Mexico, the Arizona –Mexico border, and Big Bend (TX).

These major themes are explored:

• Comprehensive history of desert civilization, from Pueblos to Spanish rule and beyond; how the land grants were usurped, and how this trend is mirrored in modern real estate practices

• Boom and bust real estate cycles in the desert, and how they affect various populations

• Cultural clashes along racial and social class lines throughout history

• How each new group who settled in the desert marginalized groups that were already in residence

• The arrival of artists in the desert, and the resulting gentrification of towns, making these towns unaffordable for existing populations

• Conflict between environmentalists and native populations who use desert resources to survive

• The real life stories behind the headlines about US border control; exploring the fine line between humanitarianism and complying with US law

• Drug addiction and how it thrives invisibly in the desert

• Prejudice against newcomers by old populations, and marginalization of old populations by newcomers: the tendency of old populations to be romanticized or unnoticed

• The vastness and beauty of the land itself; exploring diverse areas through rigorous hiking

Ultimately, Martinez realizes that being a good neighbor is invaluable in the desert. He has done this in the way he presents the book’s characters. Not only is he compassionate and straightforward, he has done plenty of research to back up what he says. He represents each person as well-rounded and complex, full of the hopes, successes, and sorrows that are part everyone’s lives.

[Mike Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Outdated populist mythology delivered by an admitted drug addict. The narrative is soaked in the "poor little ol' me" excuse. If you are a serious socialist, or even a herion junkie, you might really like this book. I read all of it. I have lived in Northern New Mexico for quite some time, and I have visited the Marfa, TX area a few times. The author's message is lame and uninspiring. There are plenty of success stories in the modern American West. This book drifts all over the desert regions, looking for failure as a topic of interest.

[Betty McMahon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish this book, which doesn't happen very often. I tried but simply couldn't identify with his point of view or conclusions. I didn't think it was "brilliant or illuminating" as described. I bought the book because I have another of his, which I enjoyed -- but this one was not even well written, although he did use a lot of big words to show he was "adademic."

[John Kissell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully written memoir and reporting. Ruben sets out on personal journey and finds complex, fascinating worlds. My wife's family comes from the Espanola Valley and the insights he offers ring true.

[James Creechan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I liked this book and would recommend it to anyone who has ever lived in the American Southwest.
But I also think that most people will appreciate some parts of it more than others, and I also think thatl readers will find different sections more interesting than others. It is a book that covers a large swath of the American Southwest from Joshua Tree to Texas with extended stops in between in Southern Arizona and Northern New Mexico. Few people have experienced all of these areas to the degree that Martinez has, but many will be intensely and personally familiar with a few of these areas.
Martinez's theme is that the "desert" is both a cultural construction and a place where people have gone to escape or to heal- and that these two different reasons for going to the desert don't always fit together perfectly.
Martinez himself has been on an extended journey of discovery, escape and a search for meaning as both an artist and as a man in search of identity along the borderlands . And this book is about the people he has met along the way. I found his descriptions were richest and most nuanced when he wrote about his fellow travellers with Mexican roots - those who had crossed from south to north either recently or in a long ago past in the company of conquistadores in search of gold. For me, his most heart-wrenching tales are about the migrants who risk death to cross the Sonoran desert and about those who see it as their mission to make certain they don't die alone of thirst.
But he also writes compellingly about those whose dreams are more mundane - those who hope strike it rich and catch on to the next wave of speculation, those who have given up because society gave up on them, those who are addicted to drugs and those consumed by hate, and those who want to create an artistic utopia..
Martinez's first book was a masterful description of crossing from South to North, and this one is his description of a second stage of that journey that went from West to East and ended up back in the West.

[Craig Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the surface, this is a book about the changing landscapes--natural and social--of the Southwest. It does that well with chapters on Martinez' time in New Mexico, Arizona and west Texas, always with his earlier life in L.A. in the background. He does a nice job tracking the impact of the real estate booms on communities, highlighting the tensions between the Nortenos, more recent Mexican immigrants, and the new arrivals, mostly white and affluent, seeking spiritual or creative connection with the land. There are incisive sketches of the conflicts surrounding environmentalists who want to maintain or protect a pristine landscape and the older residents who feel, correctly enough, that they're being ignored.

But what makes Desert America even better is the way Martinez deals with his own complicated relationship with land, society, and, crucially, with the drug addiction that he's fought in his own life and that pervades some of the communities he lives in or visits. He never offers a simplistic answer, always comes correct on his own peculiar position between demographic groups. He knows that even as a Chicano with deep political convictions, he's part of the invasion from the perspective of the locals in Velarde, New Mexico, and that as a writer, he shares some of the tendencies he (again correctly enough) criticizes in the art colony of Marfa, Texas.

The last chapter where he reflects on the relationship between despair and addiction is extremely well done. About as good a book about the contemporary Southwest as I can imagine. Highly recommended

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

What it all boils down to is the idea of being good neighbors, across cultural divides, across borders, across differences in how we view the land. I felt I learned a lot here about the borderlands of the desert southwest - its recent history and the conflicts that drive and divide the people here. About the moral ambiguities that should give us all pause. How to best help a man encountered in the desert, suffering from the effects of the border crossing on his diabetes? Get him medical help, drive him to help - and risk legal action for helping a illegal- or turn him in to authorities, which might actually save his life? I was glad the author raised the questions he did in his reportage, but was fair in his getting multiple sides to conflicts (environmentalists vs. land grantees) and letting the reader see the complexity of the issues. In the end it is dialogue that's so important. Trying to see beyond stereotypes.

[Zaz]

I thought this would be a skimmer, but wow, I liked it so much that I only skimmed the last chapter and read the rest. I was particularly interested in Martinez’s portrayal of the interaction of Anglos, Hispanos, Chicanos, and (to a lesser extent) Native Americans in New Mexico, a state that seems below the radar of most news. He effectively pairs N.M. with Arizona as a study in contrasts. Jeez, there’s a lot in here: drugs, migrants, ethnic tension, flavors of environmentalism. The social emphasis of Martinez’s book seemed to fill in the blanks I remember from Wm. Fox’s The Void, the Grid, and the Sign which was more about desert landscapes. They’d be good companion reads.

Highly recommended.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not the book I was led to expect from the jacket blurb, and yet I think I'll be pondering the themes and ideas in it for a long time to come. In part a memoir of Martinez's own passion for desert places, it also looks at the historic interactions between different waves of settlers and modern issues that face the American Southwest. The author covers a lot of territory, from issues of land use and water rights, to immigration, to gentrification and the erasure of minorities from popular history. And Martinez is an interesting narrator with whom to make the journey: flawed, yet thoughtful, and deeply sympathetic toward the people he meets. Desert America goes on the keeper shelf.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gave a fair overview of the effect on desert communities of two of the Southwest's biggest challenges: drugs and border control. The book title though, seemed to suggest that there would be more of an analysis of the economic situation of the last decade, but that perspective was buried and unfocused, and the personal narrative that was supposed to tie it all together wasn't very compelling.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author examines the grim reality of life in the Desert Southwest from his years as a member of an artists' community outside of Joshua Tree National Park to time spent in a small New Mexico community openly hostile to newcomers. His account dispelled any romanticized notions I had of desert living yet did not discourage me from returning to the area as a tourist.

[Kymberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected one thing from the title and description of this book and got another. It was still somewhat interesting, but it wasn't the book I wanted to read. I'd have preferred to read about the people of the desert Southwest, new and old, and how we interact. This is a memoir of a guy who isn't from the desert, but wishes he was.

[Daniel Hooker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book and the best kind of creative nonfiction. Part social history of the American West, part meditation on the (un)natural environment, part personal narrative of addiction, recovery and soul-searching in the desert.

[goodbyewaffles · Rating 4 out of 5]

smart and sort of random, with tendrils of about eight million stories weaving through it. I feel like I learned a bunch of things, but also that they didn't add up to anything coherent, which is fine. also apparently he knows Francesca Lia Block, whaaat

[Bryan Rountree · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Asina nos vendemos." That's the way we sell out.

There is a lot of nuance to Desert America that, to me, explains the pool of reviewers who are claiming this hardback to be a snooze fest. It is a very personal read on behalf of author Ruben Martinez; one that demands a preexisting familiarity with the land and spaces he is writing about. By the very nature of Martinez's first-person reporting on the North American deserts that span Southern California to Far West Texas (and dip into northern Mexico), you know you are getting into a biased read.

But that's the point! The desert is a space that we project our own desires and meanings upon. Moreover, now that idea of "the desert" is no longer the playground of John Wayne or the Manifest Destiny stirring the conflict of childhood Cowboys & Indians games, I do think it is valuable to reassess the potentials of what the desert popularly means to Americans now... Breaking Bad being an example that's not too far off point from the more expansive argument that Martinez is proposing.

While including solid chapters on California's Joshua Tree and Texas and Arizona's borderlands, this is, surprisingly, a predominantly northern New Mexico-oriented read. Highly recommended.

[Santos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book was very interesting and informative about the cultural attitudes and historical differences among the native americans, new mexicans and mexicans. My enjoyment of this book was because I lived in Velarde NM and other villages mentioned in Mr. Martinez book. As Mr. Martinez noted, the Espanola Valley area has improved in the typical business developments(wal-mart, eateries, etc) but since my last visit in 2011, much of the cultural life remains as I remember when I lived there. We must have hope that this generation can contribute to the improvement of relationships amongst all the players. I enjoyed the stories of persons involved in the betterment of the area in all facets. I commend Mr. Martinez for bringing such interest in his desire to better understand these cultural problems.

[Liza]

My problem with this book is that I kept falling asleep. I think this book has something of value to say and those that were able to read it without passing out, mentioned the vocabulary and sentence structure was fascinating.

Others loved the stories.

There were tidbits about his life and the history of the West that engaged me, but I would pass out for 2-3 hours if not more. A colleague mentioned this may be the result of exhaustion on my part than the actual quality of the book.

I intend on tackling this book later down the year, but I had to give up for now as losing major chunks of time due to a power nap I wasn't planning on, made me frustrated as a reader. Especially since I've never fallen asleep reading a book before.

I shall update this review if I am able to read this book to the end. As of now, consider it shelved.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tremendously interesting book about the author's process of coming to an understanding about the SW, by means of observations and conversations with a number of activists etc. A central theme is the fate of the illegal immigrants making the desert trek from Mexico to Texas, another issue is the misery of some residents, and the subsequent drug abuse, a way of self-medicating and dealing with the misery. The countryside is described in wonderful detail - the reader gets a clear picture of valleys, irrigation canals, mesas, the vegetation, forests, the Rio Grande etc.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to find out more about an area that is rapidly filling up, and is the objective of many who cross into the US from Central America and Mexico.

[Fred Freakoutski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book about the perils of gentrification and how it can divide and destroy communities, w/ the author's first hand observations in northern New Mexico and the Mojave Desert. No suggestions for remedy. Just a general angst about the way things are. Appreciate the author's honesty in exposing the negative impact that the transient monied class can have on rural places. I especially liked his line about speculators taking those characteristics that make a place special and commodifying them. These then get used to sell everything from real estate to tee shirts. Ruins what made the place special to start with, and the pre-gentrification residents get marginalized.

[Blythe Gifford]

I read a review on it in the Chicago Tribune and downloaded a sample from Kindle. Within a paragraph, I was breathless. Prose is wonderful and so is the viewpoint. Immediately going on the TBR pile.

[Nando Villa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great writer.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm fascinated with the desert and the american west - who ends up here and for what reasons? parts of this book were fascinating but ultimately too disjointed for a quality read.

[Shantal Merchain · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning more about New Mexico and the other desert regions in the southwest, as well as hearing personal stories about those who live in and migrate through the borderlands. The stories help you understand the culture and history of these lesser talked about areas of the U.S., the only thing that could have been better and caused one to be a little more invested in this book is having a stronger central narrative to tie all the stories back to.