They Never Come Back is a compelling book. Frans J. Schryer's command of Nahuat, his long association with the sending area, and his long-term friendships with the migrants allow him to give a real feeling for the hopes, dreams, and realities that the immigrants face as they address each border as well as the realities for the families and the ... Read morecommunities left behind. He paints a vivid picture of an indigenous people who are adept at adapting to economic and political change while maintaining their sense of community.
Cornelia Flora, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Sociology Emeritus, Iowa State University, author of Rural Communities: Legacy and Change As the current national attention continues to focus on undocumented workers, this book will prove to be an accessible aid to general readers hoping to gain insight into the world of these workers. Schryer (emer., Univ. of Guelph, Canada) rightly points to the fact that though the economic integration of goods and capital has made tremendous progress in US-Mexico relations, people moving across the border have been the victims of a dysfunctional immigration policy. This dysfunction resultsin enormous human cost and consequences on both sides of the border; families and children experience great personal trauma, especially the undocumented who live in the shadow of fear. Through anecdotes from the lives of people of the Altos Balsas region of Mexico, Schryer illustrates the push and pull factors that have created the situation of the undocumented worker and the benefits to rural Mexican villages where migrant dollars help sustain local economies. A human account of the anguish and life journeys of undocumented workers, the book is written in an accessible manner, which will serve both readers and policy makers well as they try to peer behind the statistics and polemics surrounding the policy response to undocumented workers in the US.
Choice
Written for a wide audience, They Never Come Back will make a timely and engaging addition to undergraduate courses on globalization, Mexico, labor migration, and U.S. immigration politics.... The book especially shines in its description of small-town life in rural Mexico, a critical part of the migration equation that is missing from most migration scholarship. Another strength of the book is a clear and concise writing style, which makes it accessible to a broad audience that includes students.... They Never Come Back tackles some big issues, telling the stories of a small group of people with broader lessons about continuity and change, tradition and adaptation and workers' daily struggles to survive.
Ruth Gomberg-Munoz
Journal of Anthropological Research
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