Why Walls Won't Work
Repairing the US-Mexico Divide
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- $35.99
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- $35.99
Publisher Description
Why Walls Won't Work is a sweeping account of life along the United States-Mexico border zone, tracing the border's history of cultural interaction since the earliest Mesoamerican times to the present day. As soon as Mexicans, American settlers, and indigenous peoples came into contact along the Rio Grande in the mid-nineteenth century, new forms of interaction and affiliation evolved. By the late-twentieth century, the border states were among the fastest-growing regions in both countries. But as Michael Dear warns, this vibrant zone of economic, cultural and social connectivity is today threatened by highly restrictive American immigration and security policies as well as violence along the border. The U.S. border-industrial complex and the emerging Mexican narco-state are undermining the very existence of the "third nation" occupying the space between Mexico and the U.S. Through a series of evocative portraits of contemporary border communities, Dear reveals how the promise and potential of this "in-between" nation still endures and is worth protecting.
Now with a new chapter updating this story and suggesting what should be done about the challenges confronting the cross-border zone, Why Walls Won't Work represents a major intellectual intervention into one of the most hotly-contested political issues of our era.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Brown University political economist Blyth (Great Transformations: Economic Ideas) abhors macroeconomic policies designed to curb debt and inflation by shrinking public benefits and, out of necessity, increasing unemployment. Blyth ably reviews Keynes's anti-austerity arguments and outlines the risks of deflationary pull. He also examines the 2008 bank crisis in the U.S. and subsequent Euro crisis, stepping around Germany's success as a leading force for austerity in the international economy. In an effort to strengthen his case, he offers a selective economic history since the 17th century, omitting the fiscal disaster of prerevolutionary France. "Austerity doesn't work," Blyth concludes, taking a line of thought that aligns with New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. Repeating this charge throughout the book, he argues that the "underlying crisis" in today's global economy is "private, not public, finance." Blyth never questions the quality of public expenditure or explains how to address voter expectations for the future. Though he calls his opinionated, learned, and sometimes glib volume "modular," it feels more like a set of connected, fairly jumpy essays. Many readers will finish the book still wondering how to contain behemoth private and government debt and if Blyth's solution a sophisticated soak-the-rich tax program in the U.S. and Europe is the best cure.
