The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail (Volume 36) (California Series in Public Anthropology)

I am a historical archaeologist who trained in the U.S. where anthropology is taught as a four field discipline with cultural, physical, linguistic, anthropology and archaeology.De Leon's book is powerful. It discusses the use of landscape as systematic violence by the United States' Federal Government against border-crossers. De Leon uses all four sub-fields of anthropology to research and address the experiences of the people who are crossing before, during, and after travel (for themselves and their families) and uses his findings and the stories of people (in their own words) to engage in the important conversation of immigration and violence in the U.S. against non-citizens, and how the U.S. wages a war against non-citizens on U.S. soil without the US public being aware (and with the inner-gov't being mentally removed from the process, despite being in power to design immigration policy).Highly recommended for anyone and everyone to read. It is extremely thoughtful and accessible. For those who teach anthropology, particularly applied or political anthropology, should include this as mandatory reading in your curriculum.

Brilliant book that is easy to follow, little jargon, and with simple yet powerful theoretical framings. This speaks to the fact that the author intends for this book to have public appeal and effect. The book does an excellent job of showing how 'the border' is more than just a line on a map or a stretch of fence, but that it encompasses animals and plants, histories and desires, political economic structures, complex worlds, and cross-continental connections. A must-read for anyone interested in anthropology, from undergraduate to graduate. The book also offers a compelling use of the 'four-fields' in anthropology, which doesn't get done very often, even in American cultural anthropology - thus it can can be quite useful for teaching undergraduates, especially given its accessibility.The book leaves plenty of questions open about immigration, politics, and capitalism, but it hopefully provides critical ethnographic context for how we ought to collectively think about these topics coming into the 21st century - particularly the role of anthropology in helping to build our shared human and non-human futures.

De León's writing is comprehensive, scientific, and emotional. His ethnographic sections humanize the real people that experience the undertaking of immigration. The book serves as an exposé of the U.S. government for those who weren't aware of the depth of border control policies; the graphic descriptions of living, dying, and death in the desert supply the gruesome science of it all. The photography provided by Jason and Michael Wells transports the reader to the desert and the lives of the immigrants that Jason got to know. I can say for sure that this book has cemented U.S. border policy as a human rights issue in my mind, and I am also interested in his Undocumented Migration Project. After seeing him speak at my university, I am moved by the subject, by his methods, and by his success. I look forward to more of his work.

Land of Open Graves was an amazing book, a must read. I was so impressed with De Leon's ethnography and research on this project. His work about undocumented migrants is so important and necessary. He uses several methodologies and a four field anthropological approach in his research.De Leon gives readers a glimpse into who these undocumented migrants are, he gives them a voice so that people understand them on a whole different level. He digs deep into why Prevention Through Deterrance is just institutional and systematic violence against undocumented migrants. As an aspiring Anthropologist I highly recommend this book to everyone. De Leon gives us all an important lesson in humanity. 5 star read.

I can't remember that last time I've read--or if I've ever read--such a compelling ethnography. Gripping, eye-opening, tragic as well as theoretically and analytically rich. This is very clearly a work written as much from the mind as the heart. It should be required reading for all social scientists and, well, basically everyone on the planet. My only criticism of the book is the section criticizing ethnographies of border crossings, and specifically those in which the researcher takes part in the crossing, and more specifically, Seth Holmes. This section seems unnecessary and out of sync with the rest of the book, even reading as rather petty, mean-spirited and defensive. Though I wish that section had been trimmed or less singularly directed at one (rival?) anthropologist, I still found this ethnography to be a masterpiece of anthropological work and one that I strongly recommend reading.

Fantastic read. Well written! Highly recommended.A friend just moved to AZ and has been interested in learning more about migrant ethnoarcheological sites. Bought a copy for her also! Thanks!

I read this book for my anthropology class and it was so captivating that I read it over the course of two days. It exposes how the US utilizes the Sonoran Desert to do its "dirty work" by forcing migrants to cross lethally dangerous land. The author uses pictures to aid in understanding as well as information derived from interviews with many migrants to enrich the book. I highly recommend this read!

I think this book gives great insight on what migrants have to go through when crossing them border to get to America. Even though I do not agree with what the author said about some things, this book was written very well and drew me in from the moment I started reading this book. I would definitely recommend people to read this book to learn a bit about migration and immigration policies.

Perfect condition

a well researched and sad account of migration. would recommend the book to anyone interested in the personal stories and politics of Mexican migration

Exceptional read! I highly recommend it

though I hate reading about how people are being treated, not only on the Mexican boarder but any other refugee. the research leads to some very interesting reading