Dead in Their Tracks: Crossing America's Desert Borderlands

Rating:
Summary: Another terrific work from Annerino
Review: A story like this demands a great deal from an author. Although Annerino has obviously spent many hours researching the borderlands of the Southwest, the key to this monumental work is the extent to which he is willing to live the story he writes. He has taken immense risks, walking side by side through the desert with Mexican immigrants, and coming face to face with the coyotes and narcotraficantes and Border Patrol agents and ranchers of this volatile area. With Annerino's books, you always learn tons of local history, but never at the expense of that vivid sensation of dust and sweat and heat and imminent danger that keep it an interesting read. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to learn more about the little-known wilderness along the Mexican border and the human cost it extracts due to current immigration policies.

Rating:
Summary: DEAD IN THEIR TRACKS is a remarkable, tremendously important
Review: August 11. I sat down this evening to read DEAD IN THEIR TRACKS, and just finished it. All in one sitting. I really couldn't put it down. I think it's a tremendously important book. It should be required reading for those planning to cross the border, and track and control the border through immigration policies. The author did a huge amount of research, and legwork. I commend Annerino's efforts and results. His photographs, along with the maps, work well together to give the reader a first hand encounter with the land and people who cross it. I like the pacing of the chapters, the inclusion of both the men who cross the border and the Border Patrol agents, and Annerino's very thoughtful reflections on the value of Mexicans killed in the killing fields in search of a paycheck to send home to their families. It makes me feel real bad. It is hard to read at times only because it's so sad. Boy, am I glad I wasn't the photographer on those trips! Thank you for the remarkable book.

Rating:
Summary: BRAVO!
Review: Immigration. What do we really know about immigrants as people - especially the obstacles they face and the hazards they must endure to reach the United States? No one wants to examine this terrible situation, and the press tries to ignore it. John Annerino is a brave photojournalist who wants to open the eyes of this country and the eyes of Mexico. In Annerino's book, DEAD IN THEIR TRACKS: Crossing America's Desert Borderlands, he writes of crossing the Arizona desert along the historic route called the Camino del Diablo, (Road of the Devil), during the summer. Annerino accompanied 4 Mexican farm workers on a grueling struggle across the desert to get into this country. Annerino risked his own life to experience the killing heat migrants endure to cross the desert, and at one point writes of his and his companion's slim chances of surviving their journey, "We would all die like dogs in a killing ground that has claimed hundreds - perhaps thousands of their countrymen." Annerino not only witnesses and endures the hazards and rigors of his companions, but he also photographed many of the people who died in the middle of the desert. He writes graphically of one dead man: "His mouth was still open from the horror, because no one heard him gasping or saw him dying at the finish line to America's Killing Ground." How long will we permit this tragic situation to continue? One brave man cared enough for people to risk his own life to open our eyes with his camera and pen - John Annerino. And you need to read his book, DEAD IN THEIR TRACKS, to understand the human toll and suffering on our borders, and the lives that are lost among those who flee the poverty of Mexico lured by the same American Dream that brought me here. Why? To quote Annerino, "Because they're out there dying right now."

Rating:
Summary: Good immersion book
Review: The photos in this book alone will move you. It was great to read about the author's journeys and firsthand experiences in the border desert of AZ. What I like most about the work is that we get a firsthand view of what it's like to cross those barren deserts just to get a job. It's amazing to hear those stories.

At one point in the book we read about his travels from the Mexican border to the I-8 in the US. Elsewhere we read about his week-long journey through those same deserts at the peak of summer, stopping at wells and water-holes along the way just to stay alive.

While John's text really disjointed, unorganized, and at times flat out confusing, he's not writing to impress-- but to take the reader to the places he's been and help them to feel the feelings he has. This work is a great exposition of something that happens in our southwestern deserts almost every day.

Rating:
Summary: Good immersion book
Review: The photos in this book alone will move you. It was great to read about the author's journeys and firsthand experiences in the border desert of AZ. What I like most about the work is that we get a firsthand view of what it's like to cross those barren deserts just to get a job. It's amazing to hear those stories.

At one point in the book we read about his travels from the Mexican border to the I-8 in the US. Elsewhere we read about his week-long journey through those same deserts at the peak of summer, stopping at wells and water-holes along the way just to stay alive.

While John's text really disjointed, unorganized, and at times flat out confusing, he's not writing to impress-- but to take the reader to the places he's been and help them to feel the feelings he has. This work is a great exposition of something that happens in our southwestern deserts almost every day.

Rating:
Summary: Those who dare.
Review: There are those who call themselves experts on the subject and those who are. John is the genuine expert. His points on the subject can only be done by being there and doing it. That is John, that is how he is. That is how he lives. A Master photographer, a Father, Journalist. His treatment on the border issue is a no-holds-barred trip into the unknown. He makes it known, he does it masterfully! When I read Dead in Their Tracks I found it to be the best publication on the subject. It should be required reading for those who are studying Hispanic Culture here at the University of Arizona! When one has the folks at ABC News and other News organizations beating on your door for your knowledge on the subject you know it is John Annerino. When you read a John Annerino book or see his imigaes you are guaranteed that you have exposed to the very best in subject treatment. Dead in Their Tracks will take you for a ride you won't soon forget.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling
Review: This book, even though it was very short and hopped around a bit, was very compelling and absorbing. It really makes you understand and feel for those people looking for work across the Mexican-American border. Though the book stressed certain things such as the desert heat and the poverty of the immigrants in order to persuade the reader, it was so absorbing that it was easily forgivable, especially considering the subject matter... people braving the elements and coming close to (and sometimes entering) death in order to give their families and themselves a better life through a hard earned paycheck. We rarely hear about the deaths of people trying to cross the desert, partly because they are trying not to be noticed.

I think the author accomplished what he set out to achieve. This book was not written for literary credentials, but to make an impact on the people who read it and to make them think, as well as raise awareness of the subject. One line I'm sure summed up his reasoning for writing this book.. it read something like "A Mexican life is more important than a celebrity's last stint in rehab."