The U.S.-Mexican Border Today: Conflict and Cooperation in Historical Perspective

by Paul Ganster, Kimberly Collins

This comprehensive survey systematically explores the dynamic historic and contemporary interface between Mexico and the United States along the shared 1,954-mile international land boundary. Now fully updated and revised, the book provides an overview of the history of the region and traces the economic cycles and social movements from the 1880s through the second decade of the twenty-first century. The border region shares characteristics of both nations while maintaining an internal social and economic coherence that transcends its divisive international boundary. The authors conclude with an in-depth analysis of key contemporary issues. These include industrial development and manufacturing, bilateral trade, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, rapid urbanization, border culture, population and migration issues, environmental crisis and climate change, Native Americans, cooperation and conflict at the border, drug trafficking and violence, the border wall and security, populist national leaders and the border, and the Covid-19 pandemic at the border. They also place the border in its global context, examining it as a region caught between the developed and developing world and highlighting the continued importance of borders in a rapidly globalizing world. Richly illustrated with photographs, maps, charts, and up-to-date statistical tables, this book is an invaluable resource for all those interested in borderlands and U.S.-Mexican relations.

364 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2015

About the author

Paul Ganster is professor of history and director of the Institute for Regional Studies at San Diego State University. David E. Lorey was director of the U.S.DLatin American Relations Program at the Hewlett Foundation from 1997 to 2003.

Reviews

[Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5*
The history of the border should not be told in a dense, textbook-style format. There are better ways to tell the story of the US-Mexico border.

The content is very informative and comprehensive. The downside is in its readability — unless you prefer the textbook approach.

If you want to learn more about the US-Mexico border, check out Rachel St. John’s /Line in the Sand/. It’s a history monograph with very similar information, a clearer argument, and it tells a story. The only downside to St. John’s fantastic monograph is in timespan she covers. The story begins in the early nineteenth century and ends with the Great Depression in the 1930s. I hope one day she — or another historian with a knack for narrative — writes a “part II” that offers the history of the border from World War II through present day. If anyone has any recommendations, send them my way!