''¡Calexico! True Lives of the Borderlands'' is a 2011 book by Peter Laufer. It covers Laufer's encounters and experiences during his week-long stay in

Calexico, California Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California ...

, a city on the Mexico–California border. He asks citizens there various questions about life on the border, such as what draws them to border towns and if "English-only" would be a realistic policy.

Overview

''¡Calexico!'' covers the events that Peter Laufer watches occur over one week spent in

. Calexico and its adjacent sister city

Mexicali Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the States of Mexico, Mexican state of Baja California. The city, which is the seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali, Cale ...

are two cities that lie on the Mexico–California border. (Both the cities' names are

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

s of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

.) Laufer asks citizens of Calexico what draws them to border towns like Calexico and Mexicali, how they feel about border security and fences that may, at some point in the future, run through their very backyards, if "English-only" is a realistic policy, why some towns on the border have flourished while others have declined, and what it means to be Mexican or American in a place on the border.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calexico Books about Mexico 2011 non-fiction books Books by Peter Laufer Calexico, California University of Arizona Press books