True story. I found I could not read it; this story is all too common where I'm from. It brought up many painful memories. Journalist author Martinez "...contributor to PBS's Religion and Ethics...Nightline, Frontline, and CNN."

This is a story that not only tells personal stories, but is well researched and scholarly. The author does not fling out unsubstantiated numbers. They were gathered and footnoted.

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My son had to read this book for a college course, and I read it myself and find I can't stop thinking about it.

The author, a journalist, goes down to a town in Mexico to cover the story of the deaths of three of the Chavez brothers who had been trying to cross the border. He becomes involved in the family's life, and in the rhythm of the town, and continues to cover the broader story of immigration from both sides of the border and all angles of the question.

This is a very human story, often told as a first person narrative. It is very readable. I deliberately read it slowly, ten or twenty pages a night, which was the right pace to give me food for thought and conversation for the next day.

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