From the author of "Europe Central," a journalistic tour de force along the Mexi
can-American border.
For generations of migrant workers, Imperial Country has
held the promise of paradise and the reality of hell. It sprawls across a stirri
ng accidental sea, across the deserts, date groves and labor camps of Southeaste
rn California, right across the border into Mexico. In this eye-opening book, Wi
lliam T. Vollmann takes us deep into the heart of this haunted region, exploring
polluted rivers and guarded factories and talking with everyone from Mexican mi
grant workers to border patrolmen. Teeming with patterns, facts, stories, people
and hope, this is an epic study of an emblematic region.
