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

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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.

"John Annerino is one of the handful of photographers with a real empathy for the West. His work has an edge to it, reflecting the sheer size and power of his subject—a subject he treats with respect and love. This land, which is so much a part of the American psyche, now threatened by pollution, by the spread of human settlement, and by exploitation, is as raw and exciting in Annerino's work as it is in our mind's eye."—Newsweek

About the Author

Throughout the past 20 years, acclaimed author and photographer John Annerino has become intimately acquainted with the lands and peoples of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands while producing 11 photography books and 21 single-artist calendars from his journeys, including the critically-acclaimed border saga Dead in Their Tracks. He's been consulted on both sides of the border for many news, documentary, and feature film projects, including ABC Primetime, Life, Newsweek, and National Geographic Adventure, among others. He's also the author of the Countryman titles Grand Canyon Wild (a Book-of-the-Month Club selection), Canyon Country, Desert Light and The Photographer's Guide to the Grand Canyon (both Southwest Books of the Year), The Photographer's Guide to Canyon Country, and Indian Country. He lives in Tucson, AZ.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Countryman (September 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881507172
• ISBN-13: 978-0881507171
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,350,100 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First on the Front Lines - Compelling imagery and essays, November 13, 2008

By	Alex D. (Lost Horizons, Santa Fe) - See all my reviews

While the Sierra Club covered its eyes, ears, and voice to the humane rights crisis, abuses and environmental disaster that unfolded in the borderlands over the last decade, John Annerino was first on the front lines to document the life and death saga on the U.S./Mexico border in his riveting non-fiction book, Dead in Their Tracks: Crossing America's Desert Borderlands. While the Sierra Club stood motionless, Annerino was the first to document the smugglers - and a National Park Ranger's death by their guns - in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument for National Geographic Adventure. While the Sierra Club remained mum and pondered what to do, conservationist Annerino continued documenting habitat destruction in Cabeza National Wildlife Refuge for National Geographic Adventure. And while the Sierra Club stood on one side of the border producing its sanitized club-fomercial "Wild Versus Wall," Annerino (author and photographer of 7 distinct Sierra Club Books' editions) was doing what he does best, working dangerous terrain and wild country -- often alone --on both sides of the United States/Mexico border. He was befriending locals, (Mexicans, indigenous people, and Americans), illegal immigrants, dangerous smugglers, and law enforcement officers, talking face to face, listening to their stories, and taking sensitive portraits. Far from help and home, he was exploring magnificent and rugged transborder landmarks, rivers, deserts, mountains, and canyons, and making stunning landscape photographs. Armed with a camera and pen, he was taking a hard look, making notes, drawing maps, and documenting the environmental destruction, migrant deaths, and border agent killings for his compelling book, Vanishing Borderlands: The Fragile Landscape of the U.S.-Mexico Border. The Seattle Times wrote: `Vanishing Borderlands artfully captures the beauty and fragility of this extraordinary and dangerous paradise. . . gracefully balancing the region's grandeurs with its truths'."

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book, November 10, 2008

By	D. Millis "Sierra Club Borderlands Campaign" (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Few have more experience in the desert borderlands than John Annerino. His excellent photography and years of wilderness experience combine to provide a very unique look at the border. Jammed with beautiful, raw twilight photos of timeless border landscapes, the large format and intense colors expose the high stakes of our border crisis. Entitled "Vanishing Borderlands," the book is a little soft on the U.S. border policies that are endangering the lands so wonderfully captured in its photography. The last section of the book is a bit of a glorification of the enforcement activities that are ripping our protected public lands and wildlife habitats to shreds. Still, Annerino gives a great overview of the border wall project, the damage it causes to fragile ecosystems, and, most importantly, the absolute grandeur of the lands it threatens to dissect.

Dan Millis
Sierra Club Borderlands Campaign
Tucson, Arizona

5.0 out of 5 stars Vanishing Borderlands brings the border into your living room, May 24, 2009

By	Roger DiRosa (Nevada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In Vanishing Borderlands, John Annerino continues to demonsrate why he is probably the best popular author and photographer who photographs and writes about the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. He has chronicled the borderlands from both sides for many years and gained a unique perspective few others have. His outstanding photographs are a hallmark of all his books. His many years in the field on the border have helped him hone his talent for "humanizing" the borderlands. John's latest "border-book" is a quick and thought provoking read with excellent photos that bring the border environment and its problems (social, law enforcement and environmental) into the reader's living room. It is an excellent and easily absorbed photographic journey highlighted by his thoughtful prose that includes personal anecdotes and feelings. By including interesting and relevant border history along with recent disturbing facts and photos about today's border issues/problems, he helps bring the border into perspective. John's book is a peep-hole look into, in some cases what was, beautiful, biologically complex and fascinating lands. These borderlands, many of which used to be remote and little impacted from human activity, have now become political and physical battlegrounds, and a deadly arena for illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and law enforcement. (No hyperbole intended.) No author or photographer can possibly capture the full complexity of the border's politics, human death and suffering, natural and human histories, and current border activities that are destroying large areas of ecologically sensitive and picturesque environments. Any reader who thinks he understands the border environment after reading this book, or any book about the border, is extremely naive indeed. However, John's book is a very good start for anyone who wants to understand the border a little better. It encourages the reader to open the door, or at least enlarge the peep-hole, and further explore the fascinating borderlands. I write with the experience of a retired federal law enforcement officer and natural resource manager who worked the border for many years and experienced its best and worst. I highly recommend Vanishing Borderlands.