Reader Score
93%
93% of readers
recommend this book
Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 8 reviews on
"Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here is sure to take its place as one of the definitive accounts of the U.S. and Central American immigration puzzle. . . . Hopefully, those with the power to change things will listen." --Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post
An epic, heartbreaking, and deeply reported history of the disastrous humanitarian crisis at the southern border told through the lives of the migrants forced to risk everything and the policymakers who determine their fate, by New Yorker staff writer Jonathan Blitzer
Everyone who makes the journey faces an impossible choice. Hundreds of thousands of people who arrive every year at the US-Mexico border travel far from their homes. For years, the majority came from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, but many more have begun their journey much farther away. Some flee persecution, others crime or hunger. They may have already been deported, but the United States remains their only hope for safety and prosperity. They will take their chances.
As Jonathan Blitzer dramatizes with forensic, unprecedented reporting, this crisis is the result of decades of misguided policy and sweeping corruption. Brilliantly weaving the stories of Central Americans whose lives have been devastated by chronic political conflict and violence with those of American activists, government officials, and the politicians responsible for the country's tragically tangled immigration policy, Blitzer reveals the full, layered picture of this vast and unremitting conflict.
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here tells the epic story of the people whose lives ebb and flow across the border, delving into the heart of American life itself. This vital and remarkable story has shaped the nation's turbulent politics and culture in countless ways--and will almost certainly determine its future.
"Blitzer’s 500-page journalistic history... is a character-driven chronicle of 40 years of transcontinental violence and displacement... a welcome intervention in a toxic discourse, one that unveils the ties that bind our artificially fractured hemisphere."
"Conditions on the U.S.-Mexico border have worsened as thousands of Central Americans clamor to enter the U.S., braving diversion tactics that have included separating children from their families and placing adults in conditions that resemble concentration camps. It's a sorrowful yet urgent topic, and Blitzer navigates it with both journalistic rigor and compassion. A sobering, well-reported history in which no one emerges a winner."
--Kirkus (starred review)
"In this urgent, extraordinary book, Jonathan Blitzer takes a crisis we generally encounter in the black-and-white simplicity of sound bites and statistics and reconceives it in complicated, unforgettable color. Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here tells the origin story of our border emergency as both a sweeping panorama, traversing decades and continents, and an intimate chronicle of the lives of a handful of indelible characters. Based on years of unparalleled reporting with migrants, activists, and policymakers, the book offers a profound reflection on one of the great paradoxes of American life--and a tribute to the astonishing indomitability of the human spirit." --Patrick Radden Keefe, New York Times bestselling author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain
"Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here is a searing, gut-wrenching, and masterfully reported account of one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the twenty-first century. No one has told this story so well as Jonathan Blitzer, whose incisive historical and political analysis brings into devastatingly sharp relief the gripping, heartbreaking tales told to him by migrants in search of 'una cucharita de justicia, ' a little spoonful of justice." --Jill Lepore, New York Times bestselling author of These Truths: A History of the United States
"As a Salvadoran, and as a previously undocumented person living in the United States, it has felt impossible to find a single comprehensive, concise timeline that could tie my existence in this country to the wars funded by US taxpayers. Through in-depth research, a commitment to truth, and brilliant storytelling, Jonathan Blitzer has written the quintessential book that links Central American migration to US imperialism. Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here is a masterpiece that everybody, everybody should read." --Javier Zamora, New York Times bestselling author of Solito
"I have a lot of resistance to reading about immigration because I do not feel that I, an immigrant, am the intended audience, but Jon's writing is different. He does not ogle, romanticize, proselytize, or condescend. His storytelling is bold, and the research involved is impressive, but what I admire most about this book is its moral clarity. It's crystalline. I really loved it. I couldn't put it down." --Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, author of The Undocumented Americans
"This book will tear your heart out. Both intimate and comprehensive, it treks deep into the tragedies of El Salvador, Guatemala, and US immigration policy. Jon Blitzer's reporting is vast, meticulous, and authoritative. The main characters are drawn with the richness of great fiction." --William Finnegan, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Barbarian Days
"With rare humanity, narrative acumen, and a detective's eye for the telling detail, Jonathan Blitzer has given the U.S.-Central American immigration crisis the epic treatment that it deserves. This is the story of ordinary people forced to live extraordinary lives in a time of endless tumult. Reminiscent of classic past social inquiries by the likes of George Orwell and Tracy Kidder, Everyone who is Gone is Here is an unparalleled piece of modern journalism about one of the most compelling, and polarizing issues of our time. A remarkable and invaluable achievement." --Jon Lee Anderson, bestselling author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life
"A decades-long regional tragedy plays out in riveting detail, and no one who reads Jonathan Blitzer's marvelous new book will ever view the current headlines in quite the same way. Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here is a breathtaking and immersive work of journalism, laying out in novelistic detail the violent, treacherous roots of the current immigration crisis. It's a riveting, maddening, and ultimately moving story that every American who cares about immigration should read." --Daniel Alarcón, author of At Night We Walk in Circles and Lost City Radio
"Everyone Who Is Gone is Here is a book about immigration of unparalleled significance: a definitive history of the human tragedy wrought by decades of flawed U.S. policies, and the rare triumph of those who outrun, outwit, and outlast them." --Eliza Griswold, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Amity and Prosperity
"Powerful and deeply compelling, Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here shows how Central American migration has created deep interconnections between the US, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. This story reminds readers that migration is not only a political issue but a human one." --Ana Raquel Minian, author of In the Shadow of Liberty