These Ragged Edges: Histories of Violence along the U. S. -Mexico Border

The U.S.-Mexico border has earned an enduring reputation as a site of violence. During the past twenty years in particular, the drug wars—fueled by the international movement of narcotics and vast sums of money—have burned an abiding image of the border as a place of endemic danger into the consciousness of both countries. By the media, popular culture, and politicians, mayhem and brutality are often portrayed as the unavoidable birthright of this transnational space. Through multiple perspectives from both sides of the border, the collected essays in These Ragged Edges directly challenge that idea, arguing that rapidly changing conditions along the U.S.-Mexico border through the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries have powerfully shaped the ebb and flow of conflict within the region. By diving deeply into diverse types of violence, contributors dissect the roots and consequences of border violence across numerous eras, offering a transnational analysis of how and why violence has affected the lives of so many inhabitants on both sides of the border. Contributors include Alberto Barrera-Enderle, Alice Baumgartner, Timothy Bowman, Lance R. Blyth, Elaine Carey, William D. Carrigan, José Carlos Cisneros Guzmán, Alejandra Díaz de León, Miguel Ángel González-Quiroga, Santiago Ivan Guerra, Gerardo Gurza-Lavalle, Sonia Hernández, Alan Knight, José Gabriel Martínez Serna, Brandon Morgan, and Joaquín Rivaya-Martínez, Andrew J. Torget, and Clive Webb. Introduction: The Problem of Violence along the U.S.-Mexico Border / Andrew J. Torget and Gerardo Gurza-Lavalle -- Livestock, Markets, and Guns. Smuggling and Violence in the Northern Borderlands of New Spain, 1810-1821 / Alberto Barrera-Enderle and Andrew J. Torget ; Trespassers in the Land of Plenty: Comanche Raiding across the U.S.-Mexican Border, 1846-1853 / Joaquín Rivaya-Martínez ; Theft and Violence in the Lower Rio Grande Borderlands, 1866-1876 / Lance Blyth -- State Power in Transition. Cooperative Violence on the Rio Grande Frontier, 1830-1880 / Miguel Ángel González Quiroga ; Citizenship, Violence, and the Cortina War / Alice Baumgartner ; Violence, Crime, and the Limitations of State Power in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, 1848-1875 / Timothy Bowman ; State-Construction and Industrial Development in the Transformation of State Violence in the Texas-Mexico Borderlands during the early Porfiriato / J. Gabriel Martínez-Serna -- Violence at the turn of the century. Avenging Tomochic and Santo Tomás: Contested Narratives of Santana Pérez's Insurgency along the Chihuahua-New Mexico Border / Brandon Morgan ; Por un compatriota: Gregorio Cortez, State-Sanctioned Violence, and the Forging of an Unlikely Alliance / Sonia Hernández ; Cycles of Lynching: The U.S.-Mexican Border and Mob Violence against Persons of Mexican Descent in the United States, 1848-1928 / William Carrigan and Clive Webb ; Border Violence in Revolutionary Mexico, 1910-1920 / Alan Knight -- Drugs and Migrants. Narcos and Narcs: Violence and the Transformation of Drug Trafficking at the Texas-Mexico Border / Santiago Guerra ; Women, Family, Violence, and Trust: Drugged Lives on the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1950 to the Present / Elaine Carey and José Carlos Cisneros Guzmán ; Keep Them Out! Border Enforcement and Violence since 1986 / Alejandra Díaz de Leon Cover Half Title Page Series Page Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents List of Figures, Graphs, Map, and Tables Acknowledgments Introduction. The Problem of Violence along the U.S.-Mexico Border Part I. Livestock, Markets, and Guns Chapter 1. Smuggling and Violence in the Northern Borderlands of New Spain, 1810–1821 Chapter 2. Trespassers in the Land of Plenty: Comanche Raiding across the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1846–1853 Chapter 3. Theft and Violence in the Lower Rio Grande Borderlands, 1866–1876 Part II. State Power in Transition Chapter 4. Cooperative Violence on the Rio Grande Frontier, 1830–1880 Chapter 5. Citizenship, Violence, and the Cortina War Chapter 6. Violence, Crime, and the Limitations of State Power in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, 1848–1875 Chapter 7. State-Construction and Industrial Development in the Transformation of State Violence in the Texas-Mexico Borderlands during the Early Porfiriato Part III. Violence at the Turn of the Century Chapter 8. Avenging Tomóchic and Santo Tomás: Contested Narratives of Santana Pérez’s Insurgency along the Chihuahua–New Mexico Border Chapter 9. Por un compatriota: Gregorio Cortez, State-Sanctioned Violence, and the Forging of an Unlikely Alliance Chapter 10. Cycles of Lynching: The U.S.-Mexico Border and Mob Violence against Persons of Mexican Descent in the United States, 1848–1928 Chapter 11. Border Violence in Revolutionary Mexico, 1910–1920 Part IV. Drugs and Migrants Chapter 12. Narcos and Narcs: Violence and the Transformation of Drug Trafficking at the Texas-Mexico Border Chapter 13. Women, Family, Violence, and Trust: Drugged Lives on the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1950 to the Present Chapter 14. Keep Them Out!: Border Enforcement and Violence since 1986 Contributors Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z "The U.S.-Mexico border has earned an enduring reputation as a site of violence. During the past twenty years in particular, the drug wars--fueled by the international movement of narcotics and vast sums of money--have burned an abiding image of the border as a place of endemic danger into the consciousness of both countries. By the media, popular culture, and politicians, mayhem and brutality are often portrayed as the unavoidable birthright of this transnational space. Through multiple perspectives from both sides of the border, the collected essays in These Ragged Edges directly challenge that idea, arguing that rapidly changing conditions along the U.S.-Mexico border through the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries have powerfully shaped the ebb and flow of conflict within the region"-- Provided by publisher