The Border: Life on the Line

The Mexican-American border region is many things: a no-man's-land for illegal emigres; a home to poor, hardworking villagers; a vast patchwork of ranches and farms; a zone of economic conquest as the U.S. economy pushes south. Seldom-explored facets of this twilight world are spotlighted in Hall's leisurely photoessay. A writer-photographer whose previous books include Shot in Prison and Working Cowboys, Hall lets the border inhabitantsteachers, ranchers, poets, prostitutesspeak for themselves. An American priest discusses his work with Central American political refugees. A Border Patrol agent complains that his heavy paperwork load prevents him from nabbing more illegals. Members of a Mexican-American family explain their belief in spirits. The photographs and rambling narrative succeed in capturing the dignity and inner strength of the Mexicans who eke out a living in this ``corridor between the richest nation on earth and one of the poorest.'' (June)