Border Odyssey: Travels along the U.S./Mexico Divide

by Charles D. Thompson Jr.

“We were trying to change the vision and the conversation about border fears.” Border Odyssey takes us on a drive toward understanding the U.S./Mexico all 1,969 miles—from Boca Chica to Tijuana—pressing on with the useful fiction of a map. “We needed to go to the place where countless innocent people had been kicked, cussed, spit on, arrested, detained, trafficked, and killed. It would become clear that the border, la frontera , was more multifaceted and profound than anything we could have invented about it from afar.” Along the journey, five centuries of cultural history (indigenous, French, Spanish, Mexican, African American, colonist, and U.S.), wars, and legislation unfold. And through observation, conversation, and meditation, Border Odyssey scopes the stories of the people and towns on both sides. “Stories are the opposite of they demand release, retelling, showing, connecting, each image chipping away at boundaries. Walls are full stops. But stories are like commas, always making possible the next clause.” Among the terrain walls and more walls, unexpected roadblocks and patrol officers; a golf course (you could drive a ball across the border); a Civil War battlefield (you could camp there); the southernmost plantation in the United States; a hand-drawn ferry, a road-runner tracked desert, and a breathtaking national park; barbed wire, bridges, and a trucking-trade thoroughfare; ghosts with guns; obscured, unmarked, and unpaved roads; a Catholic priest and his dogs, artwork, icons, and political cartoons; a sheriff and a chain-smoking mayor; a Tex-Mex eatery empty of customers and a B&B shuttering its doors; murder-laden newspaper headlines at breakfast; the kindness of the border-crossing underground; and too many elderly, impoverished, ex-U.S. farmworkers, braceros , lined up to have Thompson take their photograph.

Genres: Nonfiction

328 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2015

Reviews

[Alyssa Amaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book touches a topic so close to my heart and sheds light on the many stories and complex issues related to our southern border with Mexico. Understanding the past and present of how America related and relates to our neighbor country left my heart aching over the many issues that divide us. So much focus on the war against drugs has led poor families to suffer instead. I really appreciated the flow of this book and the stories told making the border a more human experience.

[Lana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insightful book into the issues surrounding the U.S.-Mexico border. While the author's bias shows from time to time, the book is generally neutral and presents the border issues with a historical viewpoint.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book. Would recommend for anyone trying to get a better understanding of immigration issues.