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LIVED EXPERIENCE BRINGS A COMPLEX ISSUE INTO SHARP RELIEF
These days it's hard to find trustworthy sources to tell us what's going on. Media outlets often serve a predetermined viewpoint that can make the nightly news only a shade better than reading fiction. To be fair to fiction, its intention is purer: to present truths that are more universal than historical.
Biography may be a more reliable means of perceiving reality beyond our limited perspectives. For example, trying to grasp what's happening on the southwest borders of our country is a slippery process. Is the U.S. endangered by a migration of violent criminals and drug smugglers? Or have changes in border policies created and inflamed the present crisis? And how can we know, when most of us aren't directly involved in the contest?
Francisco Cantú offers a unique perspective to the border wars in The Line Becomes a River: a memoir of his experiences during and after working as a member of the border patrol. He presents us with three windows on the territory: first, as a border official sincerely intent on saving lives and enforcing the law. The second section of the book traces his doubts, as he senses his own heart hardening to suffering he witnesses but cannot address. Finally, he introduces us to one border crosser whose story is legion. If you want to understand what's going on at the border, Cantú's frank narrative is a good place to begin.
—Alice Camille,
reprinted with permission from TrueQuest Communications
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