The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border
A nonfiction book that uses experience in the Border Patrol to examine violence and ethics on both sides of the border.
Work Information
The work of guarding a border eventually brings the border inside the self.
Tracing memory from El Paso to the borderlands, the book asks what the author saw and what he became complicit in inside the system. It ties personal history and politics together tightly.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Penguin Publishing Group
- Published
- 2019-02-05
- Pages
- 288 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.72 x 2.03 x 20.83 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780735217737
- ISBN-10
- 0735217734
- Price
- 2936 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Biographies & Memoirs/Cultural & Regional
The instant New York Times bestseller, "A must-read for anyone who thinks 'build a wall' is the answer to anything." -- Esquire For Francisco Cantú, the border is in the blood: his mother, a park ranger and daughter of a Mexican immigrant, raised him in the scrublands of the Southwest. Haunted by the landscape of his youth, Cantú joins the Border Patrol. He and his partners are posted to remote regions crisscrossed by drug routes and smuggling corridors, where they learn to track other humans under blistering sun and through frigid nights. They haul in the dead and deliver to detention those they find alive. Cantú tries not to think where the stories go from there. Plagued by nightmares, he abandons the Patrol for civilian life. But when an immigrant friend travels to Mexico to visit his dying mother and does not return, Cantú discovers that the border has migrated with him, and now he must know the whole story. Searing and unforgettable, The Line Becomes a River goes behind the headlines, making urgent and personal the violence our border wreaks on both sides of the line
Francisco Cantú served as an agent for the United States Border Patrol from 2008 to 2012, working in the deserts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. A former Fulbright fellow, he is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and a 2017 Whiting Award. His writing and translations have been featured in Best American Essays, Harper's, n+1, Orion , and Guernica , as well as on This American Life . He lives in Tucson.
Reviews
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Un libro necesario
De entrada, dos sorpresas para destrozar mitos: Un ex-policía compasivo, un ex-policía que sabe escribir y lo hace muy bien. Recomendable para usamericanos y para mexicanos pues su lectura nos acerca un poco más al conocimiento de lo que nos divide y de lo que nos une.
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Simply Brilliant!
Living in the shadow of the border for many years, I was anxious to see what Mr. Cantú had to say. His book exceeded my greatest expectations. He cut through contemporary stereotypes to craft a beautiful and compelling story of the human condition. His story is factual. It is a multifaceted presentation about the real conditions faced by Border Patrol agents on the front lines and by the illegal immigrants themselves. After reading the book, I came away a bit more understanding of the agents who are often driven into hardened shells by the realities of their jobs and the cold dictates of a political system where there’s little room for humanity. Cantú’s writing style is refreshing. An air of spirituality permeated the book; to an extent, it was reminiscent of the writing of Carlos Castaneda. Cantú crafted a fabulous book that was easy to read, but hard to put down. The story didn’t end as I would have liked, but reality rarely accommodates my personal wishes. Such is the nature of the real world. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
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Good book
Excellent story about the struggles on the southern US border. Coming from a former Border agent grounds the story with personal experiences. Well worth a read.
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Satisfying read
A well written and thought provoking book about the US Mexican border. A very personal, sometimes harrowing, but satisfying account of living on either side of this line that divides people physically and emotionally.
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Crónica humana de una frontera.
--Estamos ante las vivencias de un agente de fronteras estadounidense de 23 años origen hispano, culto y, especializado en relaciones internacionales, el cual quiso conocer de manera empírica la frontera con México. -- Por ello el libro nos ofrece las duras experiencias personales del autor, el racismo, la muerte en la carretera, la caza del pobre, su hacinamiento y la inexcusable defensa del estado, mostrando claramente la pléyade de perfiles que están implicados, pudiendo trasladar estas experiencias al caso europeo. -- Lo que queda claro es que con las medidas actuales NO se va a solucionar un problema que está ya en nuestras narices ante el cual los populistas poco o nada pueden hacer. El autor no deja de lado el explicar el rostro humano bueno/malo de todos aquellos que cruzan el borde. Algo digno de agradecer son las explicaciones de los tratados de los que extraeremos la idea clara del atropello cometido contra México y, la belleza en la descripción de los paisajes, del malpaís, llamado así por los Españoles -- Las cosas que podrían mejorarse en el libro son las siguientes: Con mapas hubiera sido un libro muy acertado, en ocasiones el autor cansa debido al intentos de explicar sus emociones y sin duda alguna, está mucho mejor la versión en inglés que la versión traducida al español. -- First of all, I prefer this English Version than the Spanish version, It is better portrayed. This cronics near us to the frontier life, showing up life and death, misery, criminals and the human tragedy across the borders. The experience can be usefull for any border in the world, specially those who split a rich country from a poor country. -- I enjoyed this cronics yet so, at the middle of the book It takes me an efford for finish it. perhaps all the ninth surround the officer caused it. Anyway, Its a worth read if you want to know more about the border, and based in experience, what it is to be appreciated.
Related Literary Awards
- Whiting Awards Edition 32 (2017) ・Winner