What do you think?
Rate this book
Dying to Live: A Story of U.S. Immigration in an Age of Global Apartheid
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.
Praise for Dying To Live : "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."
—David Bacon, author of Communities Without Images and Voices from the World of Migration
"Joseph Nevins blows the cover off the scapegoating of 'illegal' immigrants by meticulously and grippingly compiling the history of why so many try to come to the U.S. and, tragically, why so many die. This book strikes at our very moral core."
—Deepa Fernandes, author of Targeted, Homeland Security and the Business of Immigration
"A fierce and courageous denunciation of the foul politics of immigration and the two-thousand mile tragedy of the Mexican border, snaking its way between two worlds, two nations, separated at birth but forever joined at the hip. Starting from one man's blackened corpse, the tale wends its way across the desert of racial amnesia to reveal the sources of America's reactionary (and futile) attempt at closure of a porous frontier. Deftly stitching together disparate times and places—from the Imperial Valley to Zacatecas to Mexicali and back to East L.A.—Nevins and Aizeki weave a memorial quilt to the hundreds of innocents in unmarked graves."
—Richard Walker, professor of geography, UC Berkeley, and author of The Conquest of Bread and The Country in the City .
" Dying to Live is a compelling, perceptive and invaluable book for our times. Our new apartheid, as explored here, is as bleak and hostile as the landscapes in which people lose their lives trying merely to survive. Those lives delineated here are unforgettable."
—Susan Straight, author of A Million Nightingales and Highwire Moon
"Invisible in life, like most exploited immigrants, Julio Cesar Gallegos now judges us from the hour of his terrible death. He reminds us–thanks to the passionate investigations of Nevins and Aizeki–that the eyeless corpses in the Imperial Valley are murder abandoned to heat, thirst, and anonymous graves by a border politics compounded of historical ignorance and contempt for human rights."
—Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums and In Praise of Barbarians
Praise for Dying To Live : "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."
—David Bacon, author of Communities Without Images and Voices from the World of Migration
"Joseph Nevins blows the cover off the scapegoating of 'illegal' immigrants by meticulously and grippingly compiling the history of why so many try to come to the U.S. and, tragically, why so many die. This book strikes at our very moral core."
—Deepa Fernandes, author of Targeted, Homeland Security and the Business of Immigration
"A fierce and courageous denunciation of the foul politics of immigration and the two-thousand mile tragedy of the Mexican border, snaking its way between two worlds, two nations, separated at birth but forever joined at the hip. Starting from one man's blackened corpse, the tale wends its way across the desert of racial amnesia to reveal the sources of America's reactionary (and futile) attempt at closure of a porous frontier. Deftly stitching together disparate times and places—from the Imperial Valley to Zacatecas to Mexicali and back to East L.A.—Nevins and Aizeki weave a memorial quilt to the hundreds of innocents in unmarked graves."
—Richard Walker, professor of geography, UC Berkeley, and author of The Conquest of Bread and The Country in the City .
" Dying to Live is a compelling, perceptive and invaluable book for our times. Our new apartheid, as explored here, is as bleak and hostile as the landscapes in which people lose their lives trying merely to survive. Those lives delineated here are unforgettable."
—Susan Straight, author of A Million Nightingales and Highwire Moon
"Invisible in life, like most exploited immigrants, Julio Cesar Gallegos now judges us from the hour of his terrible death. He reminds us–thanks to the passionate investigations of Nevins and Aizeki–that the eyeless corpses in the Imperial Valley are murder abandoned to heat, thirst, and anonymous graves by a border politics compounded of historical ignorance and contempt for human rights."
—Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums and In Praise of Barbarians
225 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2008
5 people are currently reading
131 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Nevins
12 books11 followersJoseph Nevins was born and raised in the Dorchester section of Boston and is Professor of Geography at Vassar College. His books include A Not-so-distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor; Dying to Live: A Story of U.S. Immigration in an Age of Global Apartheid; and Operation Gatekeeper and Beyond: The War on "Illegals" and the Remaking of the US-Mexico Boundary.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 7, 2009
excellent! perhaps because it's written by a geographer, this book provides a thoughtful critique of the nation-state and, as a result, questions the very legitimacy of laws policing national boundaries.
August 8, 2016
Praise for Dying To Live:
"Nevins’s book, thanks to excellent research and a nuanced application of theory, demonstrates not only professional excellence but also an ongoing commitment to justice and human rights. By calling the entire notion of a 'right to be here' into question, Dying to Live serves as a powerful antidote to nationalistic amnesia on the part of the U.S. public, which has been too willing to embrace a shortsighted version of U.S.-Mexican history. By analyzing enforcement in the space of the border, he has provided an extension of the concept of structural violence. Those of us living in border states, especially Arizona, owe Nevins our appreciation. He shows how one can analyze policy information in a way that clearly communicates how common racial constructions support and extend the state’s use of violence."
--Raquel Rubio Goldsmith, North American Congress on Latin America
“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.”
—David Bacon, author of Communities Without Borders: Images and Voices from the World of Migration
“Joseph Nevins blows the red-neck cover off the right wing engineered scapegoating of “illegal” immigrants by meticulously and grippingly compiling the history of why so many try to come to the US, and, tragically, why so many die. His important work forces us to go beyond the simple debate of legal versus illegal and instead focus on the current government policy that is literally killing thousands. Nevins strikes at our very moral core when he asks: are we a nation that will continue to allow thousands of innocent people to die and do nothing to reverse this grave injustice?”
—Deepa Fernandes, author of Targeted, Homeland Security and the Business of Immigration
“…a fierce and courageous denunciation of the foul politics of immigration and the two-thousand mile tragedy of the Mexican border, snaking its way between two worlds, two nations, separated at birth but forever joined at the hip. Starting from one man’s blackened corpse, the tale wends its way across the desert of racial amnesia to reveal the sources of America’s reactionary (and futile) attempt at closure of a porous frontier. Deftly stitching together disparate times and places – from the Imperial Valley to Zacatecas to Mexicali and back to East L.A. - Nevins and Aizeki weave a memorial quilt to the hundreds of innocents in unmarked graves.”
—Richard Walker, professor of geography, UC Berkeley, and author of The Conquest of Bread and The Country in the City.
"Dying to Live is a compelling, perceptive and invaluable book for our times. Our new apartheid, as explored here, is as bleak and hostile as the landscapes in which people lose their lives trying merely to survive. Those lives delineated here are unforgettable."
—Susan Straight, author of A Million Nightingales and Highwire Moon
"Invisible in life, like most exploited immigrants, Julio Cesar Gallegos now judges us from the hour of his terrible death. He reminds us – thanks to the passionate investigations of Nevins and Aizeki – that the eyeless corpses in the Imperial Valley are murder victims: abandoned to heat, thirst, and anonymous graves by a border politics compounded of historical ignorance and contempt for human rights."
—Mike Davis is the author, most recently, of Planet of Slums and In Praise of Barbarians
"Nevins’s book, thanks to excellent research and a nuanced application of theory, demonstrates not only professional excellence but also an ongoing commitment to justice and human rights. By calling the entire notion of a 'right to be here' into question, Dying to Live serves as a powerful antidote to nationalistic amnesia on the part of the U.S. public, which has been too willing to embrace a shortsighted version of U.S.-Mexican history. By analyzing enforcement in the space of the border, he has provided an extension of the concept of structural violence. Those of us living in border states, especially Arizona, owe Nevins our appreciation. He shows how one can analyze policy information in a way that clearly communicates how common racial constructions support and extend the state’s use of violence."
--Raquel Rubio Goldsmith, North American Congress on Latin America
“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.”
—David Bacon, author of Communities Without Borders: Images and Voices from the World of Migration
“Joseph Nevins blows the red-neck cover off the right wing engineered scapegoating of “illegal” immigrants by meticulously and grippingly compiling the history of why so many try to come to the US, and, tragically, why so many die. His important work forces us to go beyond the simple debate of legal versus illegal and instead focus on the current government policy that is literally killing thousands. Nevins strikes at our very moral core when he asks: are we a nation that will continue to allow thousands of innocent people to die and do nothing to reverse this grave injustice?”
—Deepa Fernandes, author of Targeted, Homeland Security and the Business of Immigration
“…a fierce and courageous denunciation of the foul politics of immigration and the two-thousand mile tragedy of the Mexican border, snaking its way between two worlds, two nations, separated at birth but forever joined at the hip. Starting from one man’s blackened corpse, the tale wends its way across the desert of racial amnesia to reveal the sources of America’s reactionary (and futile) attempt at closure of a porous frontier. Deftly stitching together disparate times and places – from the Imperial Valley to Zacatecas to Mexicali and back to East L.A. - Nevins and Aizeki weave a memorial quilt to the hundreds of innocents in unmarked graves.”
—Richard Walker, professor of geography, UC Berkeley, and author of The Conquest of Bread and The Country in the City.
"Dying to Live is a compelling, perceptive and invaluable book for our times. Our new apartheid, as explored here, is as bleak and hostile as the landscapes in which people lose their lives trying merely to survive. Those lives delineated here are unforgettable."
—Susan Straight, author of A Million Nightingales and Highwire Moon
"Invisible in life, like most exploited immigrants, Julio Cesar Gallegos now judges us from the hour of his terrible death. He reminds us – thanks to the passionate investigations of Nevins and Aizeki – that the eyeless corpses in the Imperial Valley are murder victims: abandoned to heat, thirst, and anonymous graves by a border politics compounded of historical ignorance and contempt for human rights."
—Mike Davis is the author, most recently, of Planet of Slums and In Praise of Barbarians
June 28, 2008
I was quite impressed by the thorough piece of work that is Joe Nevins's "Operation Gatekeeper." This book, however, also provides a more concrete human connection by complementing the meticulously documented history of Mexican immigration to the U.S. and racist legal and extra-legal harassment of same with the tragic story of one hard-working family man who died in the California desert trying to reach his loved ones. I kept thinking of the the Latino power slogan "I didn't cross the border, the border crossed me" while reading the history of the too short life of Julio Cesar Gallegos.
Heart-wrenching photos by Mizue Aizeki complement the powerful text. Tell the next idiot you hear bad-mouthing Mexican immigrants to read this book or shut the fuck up.
Heart-wrenching photos by Mizue Aizeki complement the powerful text. Tell the next idiot you hear bad-mouthing Mexican immigrants to read this book or shut the fuck up.
February 18, 2010
This is an excellent treatment of immigration that looks at both the "big picture" as well as distinct personal stories and on-the-ground examples. Nevins, a geography professor, examines the history of U.S. expansion and the changing U.S.-Mexico boundary along with the changing social dynamic around migration and how how it has related to ideas of race, nationalism, security, sovereignty, and economics. While filled with supporting footnotes and citations, the book is a surprisingly easy read. Not bogged down with overly academic language, "Dying To Live" is clearly and effectively aimed at a general audience. Anyone interested in looking behind the political and media rhetoric about immigration and "secure borders" of recent years should read this book.
September 16, 2008
I've actually only read one chapter of this book but when I have some time on my hands I plan to read more. Excellent. Clear. Relevant.
October 5, 2018
Just finished this book, and I would describe it like this:
To any aspect of our present society, there is a history of how it came to be, and a history of how the story we tell about it came to be.
There are some aspects of these histories we know, and things we think we know which are not actually true.
But I think to most aspects of present society, and maybe especially with matters of social justice like immigration and borders, there is just so much more to the story (and the story about the story) that it would be difficult to infer or know about without some deliberate exploration.*
The author of this book has done a great deal of that exploration and presented it in an elegant and accessible way. And having read it I feel I have a richer understanding of the issue of immigration through our southern border.
...
* I think it should be added here that knowledge can be very unevenly spread between different communities of people. So, while a lot of the information in this book was new to me, it is likely second nature and in any case well known to many others.
To any aspect of our present society, there is a history of how it came to be, and a history of how the story we tell about it came to be.
There are some aspects of these histories we know, and things we think we know which are not actually true.
But I think to most aspects of present society, and maybe especially with matters of social justice like immigration and borders, there is just so much more to the story (and the story about the story) that it would be difficult to infer or know about without some deliberate exploration.*
The author of this book has done a great deal of that exploration and presented it in an elegant and accessible way. And having read it I feel I have a richer understanding of the issue of immigration through our southern border.
...
* I think it should be added here that knowledge can be very unevenly spread between different communities of people. So, while a lot of the information in this book was new to me, it is likely second nature and in any case well known to many others.
April 24, 2023
I read this for class and think thats why I didn’t enjoy this. I will admit that the topic as a whole was amazing and written well, I just couldn’t get past the “i’m required to read this book in order to receive class credit” portion.
February 16, 2009
In today’s society, issues of immigration are at the forefront politically, culturally, and socially. A number of political leaders have raised the idea of a tougher border patrol between the United States and Mexico and deportation of illegal immigrants, creating an “us” and “them” dynamic that contributes to dissension and unrest.
Dying to Live examines the history of immigration as it affects both the United States and Mexico. The story stems from the deaths of Julio César Gallegos and others travelling with him through the Mexican desert into California. The motivations for why he was forced to make such a grueling and ultimately fatal journey are based within the history of political, historical, and socioeconomic relations between the two countries.
The book begins with the author’s note on the use of language in referring to those who enter a country without official sanction as “illegal immigrants,” which the author writes “has become for many a code word for ethno-racial hatred toward unwanted migrants.” Nevins then attempts to answer difficult questions - like how do issues of identity play out in those unable to call a country a home and should people be allowed to move between the border without consequence or should there be stricter regulations? Nevins also writes about places along the border that seem to blend the Mexican and American cultures and identities, becoming a transnational space that, while united, still maintains ideological differences between the two nations.
Dying to Live is well researched and well cited. The author allows the reader to come to his or her own conclusions about the issue. The conclusion I came to is that the issue is far more complicated than I could have imagined.
Review by Kristin Conard
Dying to Live examines the history of immigration as it affects both the United States and Mexico. The story stems from the deaths of Julio César Gallegos and others travelling with him through the Mexican desert into California. The motivations for why he was forced to make such a grueling and ultimately fatal journey are based within the history of political, historical, and socioeconomic relations between the two countries.
The book begins with the author’s note on the use of language in referring to those who enter a country without official sanction as “illegal immigrants,” which the author writes “has become for many a code word for ethno-racial hatred toward unwanted migrants.” Nevins then attempts to answer difficult questions - like how do issues of identity play out in those unable to call a country a home and should people be allowed to move between the border without consequence or should there be stricter regulations? Nevins also writes about places along the border that seem to blend the Mexican and American cultures and identities, becoming a transnational space that, while united, still maintains ideological differences between the two nations.
Dying to Live is well researched and well cited. The author allows the reader to come to his or her own conclusions about the issue. The conclusion I came to is that the issue is far more complicated than I could have imagined.
Review by Kristin Conard
September 20, 2012
This book is incredibly thought-provoking, it provides a compelling case for people to challenge the accepted (and enforced) idea that the border between the U.S. and Mexico is a valid one. It examines in depth the racial and socioeconomic power differences between those living on each side, and how racism has played a huge part in the creation of the idea of the border, and how life is ordered on each side of it. This book presents an exhaustive history of relations between the two nations, not in terms of politics or military primarily, but in ordinary citizens (and non-citizens). My own reactions to the book's more "radical" assertions actually only serve to prove his point, that anti-immigrant fever in the U.S. is so deeply engrained that people don't even question it, and that we instead tend to question people who embrace immigrants, their human rights, and that migration is an essential part of life. We have been taught from an early age that immigrants have no rights and they are a danger to us.
March 23, 2011
One quote: "In a world of profound inequality, there are few if any nations that share a land boundary with the level of disparity as wide as that between Mexico and the United States. Which side of a boundary one is born on--something that is permanent and that one cannot change--profoundly shapes the resources to which one has access, the amount of political power one has, where one can go, and thus how one lives and dies. This is the essence of racism as it allows for double standards based on the assumption that some should have greater rights because of their geographic origins or ancestry."
A lot to chew on in this book. I am still digesting.
A lot to chew on in this book. I am still digesting.
November 26, 2008
I had to read it for my Minorities class at school. Makes you rethink what the media feeds you about "Illegal" Immigrants and this helps explain their struggles and everything the White man put them through.
June 10, 2010
I loved it! It moved me like few other books have.
June 27, 2014
LOVED! a lot of information and sentiments
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews