Border Odyssey: Travels along the U.S./Mexico Divide

329 Pages·2015·19.41 MB·English

by  Charles D.

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b o r d e r o d y s s e y
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Travels along the U.S./Mexico Divide
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Charles d. Thompson Jr.
border odyssey
University of Texas Press Austin
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Copyright © 2015 by the University of Texas Press Library of Congress
All rights reserved Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Printed in the United States of America Thompson, Charles D., Jr. (Charles Dillard),
First edition, 2015 1956– author.
Border odyssey : travels along the US/
Requests for permission to reproduce material Mexico divide / Charles D. Thompson, Jr.
from this work should be sent to: — First edition.
Permissions pages cm
University of Texas Press Includes bibliographical references and
P.O. Box 7819 index.
Austin, TX 78713-7819 ISBN 978-0-292-75663-2 (cloth : alk.
http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/rp-form paper)
1. Mexican-American Border Region. 2.
∞ The paper used in this book meets the mini- United States—Foreign relations—Mexico.
mum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 3. Mexico—Foreign relations—United
(R1997) (Permanence of Paper). States. 4. Thompson, Charles D., Jr.
(Charles Dillard)—Travel. I. Title.
F787.T47 2015
972'.1—dc23 2014031549
doi:10.7560/756632
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For the border crossers.
For the monarchs.
For my parents.
For Hope.
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Something there is that doesn’t Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this
love a wall wall.
That wants it down.
President Ronald Reagan,
Berlin, 1987
Robert Frost,
“Mending Wall” (1913)
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Complete the danged fence. Yea, though I walk through the
Valley of the Shadow of Death,
Senator John McCain,
Arizona, 2010 I will fear no evil.
Psalm 23:4 (KJV)
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11. Rio Grande Guardians
74
12. Progress? 78
1. Evidence of Things Not 13. World’s Most Honest
Seen 1 Man 84
2. The Border Etched in 14. Cowboy Priests 92
Bones 5
15. The Hand-Drawn Ferry
3. Traveling the Valley of the 100
Shadow 12
16. Prohibition Bar 103
4. Two Kinds of Flight 22
17. Border Walker 110
5. Of Roads, Fences, and
18. The Road to Eagle Pass
Neighbors 26
118
6. Boca Chica Sunset 29
19. Border Ambassador 123
7. The Ghosts of Palmito
20. The Last Stay at Del Rio
Ranch 33
129
8. El Ranchero 43
21. Seminole Canyon 137
9. Border Guards 51
22. Braceros in Murder
10. Brownsville Raids 59 City 143
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contents
23. Fort Davis and the Buffalo
Soldiers 161
24. National Park on the
Line 169
33. Campesinos Sin
25. Pancho Villa and the Pink Fronteras 256
Store 176
34. The Wall of Shame and
26. Smoke on the Apachería Entrepreneurship 267
192
35. Graves of Unknown
27. A Grandmother Mourns at Farmworkers 276
the Wall 198
36. Desert View Tower and
28. Fences and Neighbors the X-Men 282
206
37. Walking Alone through
29. Ground Zero of the Friendship Park 288
Border Crisis 212
38. As If It Were Not There
30. Altar and Sacrifice 234 293
31. Phoenix Rising 240
32. Tohono Sacred Peak and Acknowledgments 297
Desert Deaths 249
Bibliography 301
Index 309