"Writing Immigration"

A new book on immigration that might have some answer to questions about why we are so upset.....


Writing Immigration by R. Suro and M. Suarez-Orozco



MTH

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From Ellis Island to an electrified fence, why America is so torn on immigration

By Roberto Suro and Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, Washington Post, October 21, 2011

"One explanation for how we live with such irreconcilable views lies in the stories we tell about migration. Simply put, we have contradictory narratives of past and present. Our history does not connect to our future. We love immigration looking backward, but we are apprehensive looking forward."

Imperial - a book about immigration by William Vollman

Imperial is about immigration and Imperial Valley California. It may be long, but worth reading. The photos are amazing (click here for link to photos from the book).

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An Author Without Borders

by Charles McGrath

New York Times

July 28, 2009

...The book is a little like the Imperial Valley itself: pathless, fascinating, exhausting. Its two great themes are illegal immigration — the struggle of countless thousands of Mexicans to sneak into the United States through the Imperial Valley — and water, which has transformed the valley, or parts of it, from desert to seeming paradise but at great environmental cost... complete NYT article

detail of photo from Imperial

link to photo

Read this book while you are still young...

Denied, Detained, and Deported:  The Dark Side of American Immigration

by Ann Bausum (for readers ages 11+)

Kids need to be reading this book, so that when they grow up they won't become Minute Men. This week, DREAMers in Washington DC, there to lobby for the DREAM Act, met a number of anti-immigrant college students. In a heated discussion, those against the DREAM Act could not be convinced it was a good thing for the country. What creates this type of person? Why are they so set on thinking that DREAMers will only take away something from them? Why would they expend so much energy fighting for something that will bring good things to people?

here is a brief review (from Kirkus Reviews) of Ann Baunum's book:

...Contending that "[a]rguments for and against immigration tend to repeat in cycles," the focus is on the implicit warning contained in five stories: the 1882 exclusion of Chinese immigrants, the 1919 deportation of anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, the tragic 1939 refusal of entry for Jewish passengers of the St. Louis, the World War II detention of Japanese-American citizens and exploitation of Mexican migrant workers that began during the same era...