State Out of the Union: Arizona and the Final Showdown over the American Dream

Arizona’s nativist Right gets pilloried in this feisty, very partisan chronicle of the state’s immigration politics. Journalist Biggers (The United States of Appalachia) investigates controversial initiatives by Arizona’s Tea Party–influenced state government, including the notorious SB 1070 “papers, please” law cracking down on undocumented immigrants, moves to ban high school Mexican-American studies programs, and bills to bar the undocumented from schools and hospitals. His narrative revolves around colorful, acid-etched profiles of Gov. Jan Brewer, former State Senator Russell Pearce, two-fisted sheriff Joe Arpaio, and other Arizona conservatives who he gleefully skewers. Biggers sets his muckraking account of the anti-immigrant camp against a plodding hagiography of progressive, labor, and Latino activism, replete with “leaders who had worked tirelessly to rescue the state from radical right-wing interlopers, political carpetbaggers, and corporate powers over the past century.” In his cross-hairs, the anti-immigrant forces appear only as bigots and buffoons, neo-Nazis, murderers, descendants of murderers, and traffic scofflaws, while their opponents are righteous populists. Biggers unearths some interesting Arizona history and builds a sharp, if haphazard, case against contradictions in the anti-immigrant position, but his soap-boxing makes for a one-sided take on issues that deserve a fuller treatment. Photos. Agent: Ellen Geiger. (Sept.)