We interviewed Phoenix journalist Terry Greene Sterling back in December (click here to read that interview). Now, all these months later, Ms. Sterling’s non-fiction book, Illegal: Life and Death in Arizona’s Immigration War Zone, is finally set to come out July 1. The timing couldn’t be any more perfect. Plus, the advance praise has been amazing:
“What a vivid portrayal of the Arizona immigrant underground. Illegal is not afraid to show the bad decisions immigrants make along with their resilience and strength of spirit. This is the total picture, a heartbreaking one in a state that has chosen to demonize its Mexican residents.”
—Tony Ortega, Editor in Chief, The Village Voice
*****
“Terry Greene Sterling puts a human face on a dishonest immigration debate. The sheriff is ugly, the laws harsh and pointless, the people poor, eager, hunted—and the people are our new neighbors regardless of our neighborhoods. Read this moving and surprising book before speaking out on who belongs here and who does not. You’ll be happy you did.”
—Charles Bowden, award-winning journalist and author of Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy’s New Killing Fields
*****
“Immigration is the twenty-first century’s Grapes of Wrath. And, like John Steinbeck, Terry Greene Sterling focuses on the people of illegal immigration—victims and perps—to show us what life is truly like on the frontlines of the immigration issue. From official neglect to rape, murder, kidnapping, and death, Sterling takes the lid off the world of illegal immigration and exposes the whole snake pit.”
—Paul Perry, New York Times bestselling author, documentary filmmaker
*****
“No one brings you into the illegal immigration underground quite like Terry Greene Sterling. Her gritty descriptions of border crossers, transvestites, and child molesters will linger in your thoughts. Her achingly beautiful accounts of everyday people and tragic situations really stick with you. From Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s bravado to a locked-up mom’s longing for her child, the stories in Illegal are strikingly vivid, and the author’s reporting flawless. No one should even attempt to speak on the matter of illegal immigration in Arizona without reading Illegal first.”
—Ashlea Deahl, editor of PHOENIX magazine
*****
“Arizona is ground zero in America’s immigration battles and Terry Greene Sterling writes about the struggles of the people involved with authority, passion and compassion. Her insights and observations are detailed with nuance and substance that can’t be acquired by dropping in when the story is hot. This book and her blog, White Woman in the Barrio, reflect her ongoing commitment to telling stories about the people in addition to the policies that are front and center in the immigration wars. If you want to understand what is going on in Arizona now, Illegal is the book to read.”
—Rick Rodriguez, Carnegie and Southwest Borderlands Initiative professor, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, Arizona State University
*****
“With painstaking reporting, elegant writing and a lifetime immersed in the culture, Terry Greene Sterling offers the most important lesson in the debate over illegal immigration: These are people we’re talking about. Not statistics. Read this book, and borders melt, as the author reminds us again and again that each immigrant has a story to tell. Greene Sterling is here to give voice. A powerful, necessary book. It should be required reading for all.”
—Amy Silverman, Managing Editor, Phoenix New Times, and blogger of girlinapartyhat.com
To order the book on Amazon, click here.
