Dead in Their Tracks: Crossing America's Desert Borderlands

Rating:
Summary: Amirable.
Review: Once again Annerino has done his homework. The photographs in DEAD IN THEIR TRACKS are haunting, and the writing is balls to the wall. I really admire his work. Annerino does whatever it takes to get the job done.

Rating:
Summary: Admirable.
Review: Once again, Annerino has done his homework. The photographs in DEAD IN THEIR TRACKS are haunting, and the writing is ____ to the wall. I really admire his work. Annerino does whatever it takes to get the job done.

Rating:
Summary: Reviewed in the San Antonio Express-News, Aug. 14, 1999.
Review: SRTUGGLING FOR A BETTER LIFE. MIGRANTS FACE HORRORS TRYING TO CROSS BORDER. It has been said that dying of thirst and exposure is the worst way to go. Some of the Mexican nationals who cross the border in Arizona and the Sonoran desert in search of stoop labor actually hang themselves with their belts when the water in their plastic jugs runs out. There were 248 documented deaths during crossings of the Mexican/U.S. border last year; the actual number is probably much higher. While many victims drowned in the Mexican canals or the Rio Grande, a large number, impossible to calculate, died of thirst and exposure on the Camino del Diablo, a treacherous 130-mile long desert trail that has been claiming the lives of hundreds of Mexicans since the 1850s. DEAD IN THEIR TRACKS is an important and troubling work about a desolate corner of the American Southwest and the Mexican men and women who follow the Camino del Diablo in search of the American dream, from one distant water source to the next. The author, a photojournalist, wilderness adventurer and endurance athlete, documents the journey he made on assignment for Newsweek magazine several years ago. Hooking up with four Mexican nationals, he set out in August, when temperatures soar above 100 degrees along the border, to photograph and write about the trail that too often leads to tragedy. The reader is transported to an arid world of sand, ocotillo and creosote bush as John Annerino's descriptive prose brings to life the Sonoran Desert and the "empty quarter" straddling the Arizona state line. Carrying their water in plastic gallon jugs and talking of their modest dreams and hopes for a better life for their families, the desperate men continue their quest for the border and the work most Americas shun, stoop labor. With 50 miles between water sources, the journey across the desert also can be a death sentence. The men and women must cross an active bombing range littered with unexploded ordnance. They have no shelter, inadequate footwear, and they are tracked by the ever-present Border Patrol, "La Migra." At one point, Annerino writes, "With nothing more than a thin cotton shirt to insulate my body from the burning salt pan, I stare up at the firey heavens and realize that the odds of any of us making it out of this desert alive are staggering...." The author describes dedicated [Border Patrol] agents who do their jobs but also have sympathy and respect for the men and women they capture and send back. In one instance, the Border Patrol saved 14 people from death in the desert. The book is a testament and also a memorial. Thirty pages list the known dead, and throughout are photographs of the victims and the stone markers their companions left behind to mark their passing. On its surface, DEAD IN THEIR TRACKS is about migrants. At its core, it touches something fundamental about need and family and the struggle to survive. Annerino deserves praise for putting this story into words and pictures.

Rating:
Summary: Following is from the Aug. 14,1999 San Antonio Express-News:
Review: STRUGGLING FOR A BETTER LIFE. Migrants face horrors trying to cross border. It has been said that dying of thirst and exposure is the worst way to go. Some of the Mexican nationals who cross the border into Arizona and the Sonoran desert in search of stoop labor actually hang themselves with their belts when the water in their plastic jugs runs out. There were 248 documented deaths during crossings of the Mexican/U.S. border last year; the actual number is probably much higher. While many victims drowned in the Mexican canals or the Rio Grande, a large number, impossible to calculate, died of thirst and exposure on the Camino del Diablo, a treacherous 130-mile desert trail that has been claiming the lives of hundreds of Mexicans since the 1850s. "Dead in Their Tracks" is an important and troubling work about a desolate corner of the American Southwest and the Mexican men and women who follow the Camino del Diablo in search of the American dream, from one distant water source to the next. The author, a photojournalist, wilderness adventurer, and endurance athlete, documents the journey he made on assignment for Newsweek magazine several years ago. Hooking up with four Mexican nationals, he set out in August, when temperatures soar above 100 degrees along the border, to photograph and write about the trail that too often leads to tragedy. The reader is transported to an arid world of sand, ocotillo and creosote bush as John Annerino's descriptive prose brings to life the Sonoran desert and the "empty quarter" straddling the Arizona state line. Carrying their water in plastic gallon jugs and talking of their modest dreams and hopes for a better life for their families, the desperate men continue their quest for the border and the work most Americans shun, stoop labor. With 50 miles between water sources, the journey across the desert can also be a death sentence. The men and women must cross an active bombing range littered with unexploded ornance. They have no shelter, inadequate footwear (one man is saving his sneakers for an interview at a melon farm), and they are tracked by the ever-present Border Patrol, "La Migra." At one point, Annerino writes, "With nothing more than a thin cotton shirt to insulate my body from the burning salt pan, I stare up at the firey heavens and realize that the odds of any of us making it out of the desert alive are staggering..." The book examines only briefly the larger needs that compel these men and women to cross the "despoblado" in order to find work, yet the reader feels a deep sense of sympathy for them. One wonders why a seasonal agricultural work permit (which would enable the worker to cross the border legally) costs $358 [then], the equivalent of six months' work south of the border. The author has been on both sides of the migration issue, having written extensively of the Border Patrol, and he describes dedicated agents who do their jobs but also have sympathy and respect for the men and women they capture and send back. In one instance, the Border Patrol saved 14 people from death in the desert. The book is a testament and also a memorial. Thirty pages list the known dead, and throughout are photographs of the victims and the stone markers their companions left behind to mark their passing. On its surface, "Dead in Their Tracks" is about migrants. At its core, it touches something fundamental about need and family and the struggle to survive. Annerino deserves praise for putting this story into words and pictures.-Will Chaffey.

Rating:
Summary: Finally! A story that humanizes the migrant field worker
Review: The author has walked a mile in the other man's shoes to tell the story of the many honest migrant workers who defy death by crossing the U.S.-Mexico border during the searing summer season for below poverty line wages to work in the vegetable fields of the U.S.'s Southwest. He also tells the story of several law enforcement officers who risk their own lives to prevent them from doing so. The text is accompanied at the most precisely dramatic moments by stunning, shocking photographs that are made all the more poignant by the deserved homage paid by the author to the human beings who have lost their lives in an ironic attempt to improve them.

Rating:
Summary: The books best about the Southwest.
Review: THE BOOKS BEST ABOUT THE SOUTHWEST. Dead in Their Tracks: Crossing America's Desert Borderlands by John Annerino (Four Walls Eight Windows, $22). Annerino, a photojournalist and veteran backcountry explorer and runner, followed, with only a camera and water, four migrant Mexican workers in their trek across the searing Arizona desert, each desperate to reach the "land of opportunity." -Arizona Daily Star

Rating:
Summary: "Dead in Their Tracks," CNN Book Chat, August 5, 1999.
Review: The following is an excerpt from a CNN book chat held Tuesday, August 3, 1999, with John Annerino, author of "Dead in Their Tracks," a personal and historical chronicle of America's killing grounds, the 4,000-square-mile "empty quarter" along the U.S.-Mexico border. JOHN ANNERINO: Good evening ladies and gentlemen. QUESTION FROM JAMIE LYNN: Do you have any percentages of how many people do not survive the crossing [of America's desert borderlands]? JOHN ANNERINO: Jamie, I don't have those statistics...But if you look at the map of the killing ground in the book, there are several hundred crosses that represent one to a half-dozen or more people who perished [at each site] trying to walk anywhere from 35 to 120 miles across the deadliest desert in North America. [The crosses and other map symbols, numerically-keyed to the list in Chapter 7, represent 360 known dead, 67 missing people, 11 graves and markers, 65 to 150 graves reported by 19th century survivors, and a turn of the century death toll estimated by early scholars and historians to be between 400 and 2,000 people. QUESTION FROM CATHY: What prompted you to attempt to cross? JOHN ANNERINO: Cathy, again it goes back to human beings suffering and dying on American soil - my concern for my fellow man. It is as simple as that. Their story needed to be told... QUESTION FROM CANDYCE: For these people who attempt the crossing, next to gangs, is the biggest problem surviving the environment? JOHN ANNERINO: Candyce, yes. Those making the crossing must contend with the desert during the summertime, the snowstorms that periodically wrack southeast California during the wintertime, or the risk of drowning while swimming across the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo del Norte. But again, we are not talking about trained athletes or adventurers who embark on [long distance, cross country] races such as the Eco Challenge, where competitors prepare six months or a year in advance under corporate sponsoship to endure a brutal test with nature. We are talking about single men or family men coming from poverty-stricken surroundings. They are probably underfed. And they have little else going for them to face these enormous environmental obstacles other than motivation... CHAT MODERATOR: Thank you, John Annerino, for joining us today to discuss your book, "Dead in Their Tracks." JOHN ANNERINO: Thank you, and good night.

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.