The Mexican Border Cities
The Mexican Border Cities

Author: Daniel D. Arreola

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 1994-02-01

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780816514410

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From Matamoros to Tijuana, Mexican border cities have long evoked for their neighbors to the north images of cheap tourist playgrounds and, more recently, industrial satellites of American industry. These sensationalized and simplified perceptions fail to convey the complexity and diversity of urban form and function—and of cultural personality—that characterize these places. The Mexican Border Cities draws on extensive field research to examine eighteen settlements along the 2,000-mile border, ranging from towns of less than 10,000 people to dynamic metropolises of nearly a million. The authors chronicle the cities' growth and compare their urban structure, analyzing them in terms of tourist districts, commercial landscapes, residential areas, and industrial and transportation quarters. Arreola and Curtis contend that, despite their proximity to the United States, the border cities are fundamentally Mexican places, as distinguished by their cultural landscapes, including town plan, land-use pattern, and building fabric. Their study, richly illustrated with over 75 maps and photographs, offers a provocative and insightful interpretation of the geographic anatomy and personality of these fascinating—and rapidly changing—communities.

Border City Chronicles
Border City Chronicles

Author: Edmond Gagnon

Publisher: Edmond Gagnon Author

Published: 2019-01-01

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 1644386771

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There is no wall separating the United States from Canada. A river marks the border between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario. The bridge and tunnel that link the two cities make up the busiest international crossings in North America. Together, they once owned bragging rights as the automotive capital of the world. Both known as blue collar municipalities, Detroit and Windsor have more than the production of automobiles in common. Murder. The American metropolis once led the nation in killings per capita. Although a fraction of its neighbor’s size, Windsor has its share of homicides. Border City Chronicles is a collection of three Norm Strom crime fiction stories, all tales of murder. Baby Shay and Designated Hitters take place in two gritty Windsor neighborhoods. Knock-Out happens in the bowels of Detroit. Follow Norm Strom, his informants and fellow cops, while they slip into the underbellies of the motor cities to seek justice for their victims of homicide.

The Essential Bordertown
The Essential Bordertown

Author: Terri Windling

Publisher: Tor Books

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 9780312865931

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Thirteen stories on Bordertown, a shared world located between Elfland and present-day America. It is a place where modern science and magic mix, and it is populated by oddballs and misfits.

Smeltertown
Smeltertown

Author: Monica Perales

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 0807834114

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Traces the history of Smeltertown, Texas, a city located on the banks of the Rio Grande that was home to generations of ethnic Mexicans who worked at the American Smelting and Refining Company in El Paso, Texas, with information from newspapers, personalarchives, photographs, employee records, parish newsletters, and interviews.

Calexico
Calexico

Author: Peter Laufer

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2011-09-01

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 0816529515

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These days everyone has something to say (or declaim!) about the U.S.–Mexico border. Whether it’s immigration, resource management, educational policy, or drugs, the borderlands are either the epicenter or the emblem of a current crisis facing the nation. At a time when the region has been co-opted for every possible rhetorical use, what endures is a resilient and vibrant local culture that resists easy characterization. For an honest picture of life on the border, what remains is to listen to voices that are too often drowned out: the people who actually live and work there, who make their homes and livings amid a confluence of cultures and loyalties. For many of these people, the border is less a hyphenated place than a meeting place, a merging. This aspect of the border is epitomized in the names of two cities that straddle the line: Calexico and Mexicali. A “sleepy crossroads that exists at a global flashpoint,” Calexico serves as the reference point for veteran journalist Peter Laufer’s chronicle of day-to-day life on the border. This wide-ranging, interview-driven book finds Laufer and travel companion/photographer on a weeklong road trip through the Imperial Valley and other border locales, engaging in earnest and revealing conversations with the people they meet along the way. Laufer talks to secretaries and politicians, restaurateurs and salsa dancers, poets and real estate agents about the issues that matter to them the most. What draws them to border towns? How do they feel about border security and the fences that may someday run through their backyards? Is “English-only” a realistic policy? Why have some towns flourished and others declined? What does it mean to be Mexican or American in such a place? Waitress Bonnie Peterson banters with customers in Spanish and English. Mayor Lewis Pacheco laments the role that globalization has played in his city’s labor market. Some of their anecdotes are humorous, others grim. Moreover, not everyone agrees. But this very diversity is part of the fabric of the borderlands, and these stories demand to be heard.