Four Friends, Two Countries, and the Fate of the Great Mexican-American Migration
by Alfredo Corchado
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2018
304 pages
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion
Publication Information
From prizewinning journalist and immigration expert Alfredo Corchado comes the sweeping story of the great Mexican migration from the late 1980s to today.
When Alfredo Corchado moved to Philadelphia in 1987, he felt as if he was the only Mexican in the city. But in a restaurant called Tequilas, he connected with two other Mexican men and one Mexican American, all feeling similarly isolated. Over the next three decades, the four friends continued to meet, coming together over their shared Mexican roots and their love of tequila. One was a radical activist, another a restaurant/tequila entrepreneur, the third a lawyer/politician. Alfredo himself was a young reporter for the Wall Street Journal.
Homelands merges the political and the personal, telling the story of the last great Mexican migration through the eyes of four friends at a time when the Mexican population in the United States swelled from 700,000 people during the 1970s to more than 35 million people today. It is the narrative of the United States in a painful economic and political transition.
As we move into a divisive, nativist new era of immigration politics, Homelands is a must-read to understand the past and future of the immigrant story in the United States, and the role of Mexicans in shaping America's history. A deeply moving book full of colorful characters searching for home, it is essential reading.
"In addition to providing historical context for the current debate on immigration, this book is a timely and personal meditation on the concept of 'migrant' in the United States." - Publishers Weekly
"The latest from the Dallas Morning News' award-winning borderland correspondent is a breezy, expansive narrative that traces the Great Mexican Migration of the second half of the twentieth century." - Booklist
"A mix of memoir and deep research into various Mexican and American political immigration issues, exploring complications of life on both sides of the border ... An affecting, timely book." - Kirkus
"This personal, moving tale illuminates the very heart of the polarizing immigration debate that is roiling America today." - David Axelrod, Director, University of Chicago Institute of Politics, Former Senior Adviser to Barack Obama, author and CNN Senior Political Commentator
"Offering a balance of honest personal anecdotes and clear-eyed assessment, Corchado reveals what immigration is truly about. A book like this doesn't happen often." - Gary Soto, author of The Elements Of San Joaquin
"Alfredo Corchado's soul is fondly and firmly rooted in both the U.S. and his native Mexico. In tracing the life journeys of himself and three friends, he provides a window to the migrating millions helping to transform North America in the 21st Century. Homelands is an evocative and essential tale for our times." - Dudley Althaus, Mexico Correspondant, The Wall Street Journal
"Corchado reports from across borders with the advantage of seeing the world with multiple perspectives. In the end, it's those who have the least who inspire Corchado the most. No matter where we call home, this book is an inspiration." - Sandra Cisneros, author of House on Mango Street
"Homelands rings true to the heart. A must read for anyone who has ever gotten on the trail north or south, east or west, this book can help you get there, help you reinvent yourself, help you ride the fierce convulsing rapids of life so that when you arrive, you arrive at journey's end holding the prize - the dream of you, fully realized and singing loud over the land!" - Jimmy Santiago Baca, author of A Place To Stand
"Homelands is the sort of story we need now - a book that examines big, urgent themes through the particulars of individual lives. By straddling worlds, speaking two languages, moving across the permeable border that separates the U.S. and Mexico, and explaining the U.S. to Mexicans and Mexico to Americans, Alfredo Corchado is an ambassador for what is finest in both countries. I salute him with a raised glass of tequila." - Philip Conors, author of Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout
"America's history and guiding myth is that of the immigrant, reflecting the waves of English, German, Italian, Irish, Chinese, and so many more that have come, settled, and prospered. In this beautifully written book, Corchado narrates the most recent chapter of this ongoing story." - Shannon K. O'Neil, Council on Foreign Relations and author of Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, The United States, and the Road Ahead
"Alfredo Corchado has written a book that comes along just when we need it most. We are a country that is always defining and redefining itself, a nation that is at constant war with itself regarding its own identity...We pine for America but what are we pining for? If you want to meditate on who we are as a nation and take a look at some hard truths of who we are, then read this book. Then read it again." - Benjamin Alire Saenz, winner of the PEN Faulkner award for Fiction and author of Everything Begins and Ends At The Kentucky Club
"Alfredo Corchado's moving and deeply personal story traces through his own journey and those of three friends, the odyssey of generations of Mexican immigrants. Homelands is a masterful tale - both heartfelt and informative. Pitch perfect." - Jose de Cordoba, Latin America Correspondent, the Wall Street Journal
"Alfredo Corchado is a master storyteller who weaves together a personal narrative about discovery and identity with the larger story of the relationship between Mexico and the United States. Homelands is a must read for anyone who wants to understand why Mexico matters for the future of the United States - and what it means to claim both countries as one's home." - Andrew Selee, President of the Migration Policy Institute and author of Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico And The United States Together
"Alfredo Corchado is a master storyteller. Homelands is a compelling and heartfelt homage to friendship and to the inextricable bond between Mexico and the United States. Corchado offers us a much needed reminder, in a time of divisive anti-immigrant rhetoric, of the efforts and sacrifices Mexicans have made to help build America and how much richer our nation is because of it." - Melissa del Bosque, author of Bloodlines
This information about Homelands was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Alfredo Corchado is the México Border correspondent for The Dallas Morning News and author of Midnight in Mexico. He is a Nieman, Lannan, USMEX, Woodrow Wilson, and Rockefeller fellow and the winner of the Maria Moors Cabot and Elijah Parish Lovejoy Awards for Courage in Journalism. Corchado lives in Mexico City but calls the border home.
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