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gjmaupin's review against another edition
5.0
Incredible and infuriating. It is what it says it is. What exactly the hell are we doing? To humans? What the hell, exactly, is it that we are doing?
Don't even talk to me about this - read it, but don't bring up the subject. What are we doing?
Don't even talk to me about this - read it, but don't bring up the subject. What are we doing?
blafin's review against another edition
5.0
Enlightening, eye-opening. Highlighted elements of the undocumented experience on this side of the border that I had yet to consider. Contrasted the experience of undocumented individuals versus citizens with respect to relationships to the state, revealing the mechanisms through which the former suffer harrowing abuses at hands of employers, government, other citizens.
lmurray74's review against another edition
5.0
Voice of Witness do an incredible job collecting and editing the interviews they carry out. I have read a few other books they've put out and I am deeply touched each time by the personal tales. The stories are not easy to read, especially as they show the worst of humanity in response to genuine crisis.
This book in particular puts me in mind of Óscar Martínez and his courageous work with Central American migrants, and Central American people living in near anarchy at home. The subtitle of The Beast is 'the migrants who don't count'. Martínez tells the stories of people living on the margins, people whose basic needs are not being met no matter how hard they try. He gives voice to the individuals whose stories may otherwise be left to dust.
This book tells the stories of people not only from Latin America but from China and South Africa, among others. The common thread is that they are living in the US without legal documentation. I have a sense that VOW interviews are left fairly open ended; there is much depth to the unique yet similar stories each person tells. It's not an easy book to read cover to cover but I feel that everyone in the United States must read the stories of at least three people in this collection. These are the people I/we see every day, working hard so I/we can live in relative luxury. These are the people we need to see and understand in all their complexity and shared humanity.
This book in particular puts me in mind of Óscar Martínez and his courageous work with Central American migrants, and Central American people living in near anarchy at home. The subtitle of The Beast is 'the migrants who don't count'. Martínez tells the stories of people living on the margins, people whose basic needs are not being met no matter how hard they try. He gives voice to the individuals whose stories may otherwise be left to dust.
This book tells the stories of people not only from Latin America but from China and South Africa, among others. The common thread is that they are living in the US without legal documentation. I have a sense that VOW interviews are left fairly open ended; there is much depth to the unique yet similar stories each person tells. It's not an easy book to read cover to cover but I feel that everyone in the United States must read the stories of at least three people in this collection. These are the people I/we see every day, working hard so I/we can live in relative luxury. These are the people we need to see and understand in all their complexity and shared humanity.
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