"Each of these 13 stories of Mexicans in the United States are rich and humanizing, illuminating the scope and breadth of a frequently stereotyped population. Eileen Truax tells the stories of thirteen Mexican immigrants, some documented, some not livingin America. Truax offers a comprehensive, highly personal portrait of the great diversity of the Mexican community by using the stories, words, and life experiences gathered from countless interviews....

The author offers brilliant investigative reporting of what went wrong when, in May 2001, a group of 26 men attempted to cross the Mexican border into the desert of southern Arizona. Only 12 men came back out.

Reyna Grande tenía nueve años cuando cruzó la frontera de México y los Estados Unidos buscando un hogar y el reencuentro con sus padres, quienes la habían dejado en su tierra natal para migrar a Los Ángeles en busca de una mejor vida. Sin embargo, lo que encontró fue a una madre indiferente y a un padre alcohólico y violento, en un país cuyo sistema educativo menospreciaba sus raíces. Reyna se refugió en las palabras. Su amor por la lectura...

"Mexicans in the Making of America examines the impact of Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants on U.S. culture, politics, and economy since the 1848 U.S.-Mexican War, when the United States seized the northern half of Mexico--the present-day states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas (annexed in 1846), Nevada, Utah, and parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma. From the moment the United States signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo...

The film speaks about families in Mexico of people who have gone to work in the United States. Touches on the economic and social impact on the divided families from the point of view of those who remain in Mexico, rather than those who emigrate.