ebooks The Border: Exploring the U.S.-Mexican Divide by David J. Danelo in History

Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Probably 1.5 starsBy Sean HadlersonThis book was a real dud and does not do much further the understanding of the border; despite the author's quest to do so. Add to that poor editing and the author's halfheartedness with which he concludes the book and this book is tailor made for a total let down. I do not recommend it. You can find a better book elsewhere. One caveat: I lived on the border for 2 years and worked on immigration issues; so I understand the issues better than most; and through that lens I evaluate this book.The book starts out with promise; but quickly becomes a travelogue for a bumbling; clueless American who tries to cozy up to Mexicans the wrong ways; including by calling them "Cabron." The author clearly lacks even a rudimentary understanding of life on the other side of the border when he talks about seeing someone's water bill and it wasn't in their name. The reality is; in Mexico that is one of the hardest bills to change the name for and if you rent a place or your parent's own the home; you wouldn't change the name anyway. Not to mention when he gets to the San Diego / Tijuana border his analysis rests on interviewing a handful of college kids who say they have never been to Tijuana; except for one. After reading that you would think almost no one ever crosses the border based; but the reality is San Ysidro (in San Diego County) and Tijuana is the largest land border crossing in the world with hundreds of thousands of people crossing daily.Danelo also omits any conversation of visas. How can you possibly write about the border and not discuss visas? Nor does he mention anything about the tens of thousands of Americans who live in Mexico. Nor does he mention anything about any of the U.S. or Mexican consulates along the border. Stunning; and not in a good way.He also decides he is going to figure out how people cross the border illegally by sitting in a park all night drinking energy drinks. Seriously. I couldn't believe it. That's what a high school kid would do.He admits towards the end of the book that he got "bored" with the topic and it shows. If I were one of the people that gave him a grant to write this book; I would demand he give me half of the money back because he only wrote half a book. Can you imagine turning in only half of a final paper for grad school because you got "bored" with it? I can't. And if you tried it; guarantee you would get half the score.Also; the editing was very poor as others have noted. It was so egregious in parts that people's last names were inconsistently spelled ("Torres" vs. "Torrez"). Others have covered editing in detail; so I'll stop with it here.The one thing the author did well was write about logistics. His chapter on logistics was really well done. He made a normally overlooked and boring topic into something interesting; and I learned a lot. But I'm guessing you aren't considering reading this book to learn about logistics; transportation; and infrastructure; and if you are; you can probably find a better book.In the end; it is a total let down. It is a discordant book without much analysis and no conclusion. Not worth the time or money.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. goodBy Kindle CustomerThe book was good and you cant beat the free price tag ... ha ha so I recommend it to readers of nonfiction0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. One StarBy Guillermo CaballeroSplendid analisis