Vanishing Borderlands: The Fragile Landscape of the U.S.-Mexico Border - Hardcover

Annerino, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0881507172 ISBN 13: 9780881507171

Publisher: Countryman Press, 2008

Synopsis

John Annerino, famed photographer of the Amerian Southwest, portrays the astonishing beauty of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands and contrasts those with images of the conflict that threatens to destroy them.
These 1,956 miles through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California on the U.S. side and Nuevo León, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Sonora, and Baja California Norte on Mexico's side are the beautiful, rugged, blood-stained borderlands that once lured conquistadors, missionaries, scalp hunters, bandits, smugglers, pioneers, and colonists from Spain, Mexico, and the United States. Annerino canoed the Río Grande/Río Bravo del Norte through the legendary Big Bend Frontier, walked treacherous immigrant trails like Arizona's Camino del Diablo (Road of the Devil), explored borderlands jaguar country on foot, and came to know the resilient people who live, work, and cling to the traditions on both sides of the border. Along the way he chronicled his perilous journeys through this "geography of chaos," capturing in remarkable photographs and evocative essays the stunning landscapes whose fragile environment is threatened by today's politics.

About this title

From the Author:

Photographed and researched on both sides of the 1,956-mile border. 

From the Inside Flap:

In his most latest book, John Annerino went in search of the natural wonders that were landmarks for early surveyors whose formidable task it was to draw a straight line through a "geography of chaos" that shaped the 1,956-mile United States/Mexico borderlands of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California; and Nuevo León, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Sonora, and Baja California Norte, México. In the beautiful, rugged, blood-stained borderlands that once lured conquistadors, missionaries, scalp hunters, bandits, smugglers, Texas Rangers, pioneers, and colonists from Spain, Mexico, and United States, Annerino canoed the Rio Grande/Río Bravo del Norte through the legendary Big Bend frontier, walked treacherous immigrant trail's like Arizona's Camino del Diablo, "Road of the Devil," explored the realm of the borderlands jaguar on foot, and came to know the resilient people who live, work and cling to traditions on both sides of the border. Along the way he chronicled his perilous journeys, capturing in remarkable photographs and evocative essays the stunning landscapes and people that remain hidden behind today's headlines.

     Many of the UNESCO World Biosphere Reserves, national parks and monuments, wilderness areas, and national wildlife refuges Annerino visited throughout the borderlands are the last refuge for threatened and endangered species such as the Sonoran pronghorn antelope, Desert bighorn sheep, Mexican jaguar, Vaquita porpoise, as well as the indigenous people who once traveled freely across a land divided. But the fragile ecosystems of these vibrant bioregions-- shared by the United States and Mexico--have fallen prey to the deadly mix of heavy off-road traffic of armed smugglers, coyotes (human traffickers), bajadores (border bandits and kidnappers), Border Patrol, migrants, and a steel border wall that threatens to be the death knell for the natural landscape, wildlife, multi-lingual people and culture that wove the colorful mosaic of the borderlands' common ground. John's photographs and essays portray the astonishing beauty of this mythic landscape, underscored by discerning images, words, and maps of forces that now threaten to destroy it--or anyone who now dares venture into it.

About this edition

• Publisher: Countryman Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0881507172
• ISBN 13: 9780881507171
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128