Between the Lines: Letters Between Undocumented Mexican and Central American Immigrants And...

In this important bilingual collection Larry Siems has assembled a diverse and inspiring array of letters that reveals the hardships, tragedies, and triumphs of undocumented immigrants in the United States and the families they left behind in Mexico and Central America. From a lively and intimate correspondence between two young Mexican women, to the love letters between separated couples, to the urgent and exasperated exhortations between grandparents, husbands, wives, daughters, sons, and cousins, Siems has vividly captured the vitality, rhythms, and nuances of these unique voices. Most importantly, Between the Lines is a living document told in the words of the immigrants themselves, giving dignity and humanity to the harsh statistics and economic threat to which the U.S. government would have them reduced. In a time of growing anti-immigrant sentiment around the world, these letters strike down the barriers between "Us" and "Other." Lively, honest, and engaging, they give us not only a better understanding of our neighbors to the south, but also afford a revealing and unsparing perspective on ourselves as well.