Border Boom Town traces the social and economic evolution of Ciudad Juárez, the largest city on the U.S.-Mexican border and one of the fastest-growing urban centers in the world. In this evocative portrait, Oscar J. Martínez stresses the interdependence of Juárez and El Paso, a condition that is similar to relations between other "twin cities" along the border. Using a wide variety of local historical materials from both sides of the Río Grande, Martínez shows how Juárez entered the modern era with the arrival of the railroads in the 1880's, serving as a principal port of exit for waves of Mexican emigrants bound for the United States. In more recent years, increased migration to the area has resulted in extraordinary expansion of the population, with significant impact on both sides of the boundary. Proximity to the highly industrialized country to the north and remoteness from Mexico's centers of production have brought a multiplicity of assets and liabilities. Juárez's vulnerability to external conditions has led to alternating cycles of prosperity and depression since the establishment of the border in 1848. With the stimulus of new development programs in the 1960's and 1970's designed to integrate this neglected area into the national economic network, Juárez enjoyed the biggest boom in its history. However, government efforts to improve socioeconomic conditions failed to solve old problems and gave rise to new social ills. Ironically, the "Mexicanization" campaign on the border has led to unprecedented levels of foreign dependency. Martínez's analysis shows that integrating the northern Mexican frontier into the national economy remains an elusive and complex problem with which Mexico will continue to grapple for years to come. Border Boom Town traces the social and economic evolution of Ciudad Juárez, the largest city on the U.S.-Mexican border and one of the fastest-growing urban centers in the world. In this evocative portrait, Oscar J. Martínez stresses the interdependence of Juárez and El Paso, a condition that is similar to relations between other "twin cities" along the border. Using a wide variety of local historical materials from both sides of the Río Grande, Martínez shows how Juárez entered the modern era with the arrival of the railroads in the 1880's, serving as a principal port of exit for waves of Mexican emigrants bound for the United States. In more recent years, increased migration to the area has resulted in extraordinary expansion of the population, with significant impact on both sides of the boundary. Proximity to the highly industrialized country to the north and remoteness from Mexico's centers of production have brought a multiplicity of assets and liabilities. Juárez's vulnerability to external conditions has led to alternating cycles of prosperity and depression since the establishment of the border in 1848. With the stimulus of new development programs in the 1960's and 1970's designed to integrate this neglected area into the national economic network, Juárez enjoyed the biggest boom in its history. However, government efforts to improve socioeconomic conditions failed to solve old problems and gave rise to new social ills. Ironically, the "Mexicanization" campaign on the border has led to unprecedented levels of foreign dependency.Martínez's analysis shows that integrating the northern Mexican frontier into the national economy remains an elusive and complex problem with which Mexico will continue to grapple for years to come.

Traces the social and economic evolution of Ciudad Juarez, the largest city on the U.S.-Mexican border and one of the fastest-growing urban centers in the world.

The seminal history of the iconic Mexican border city by the founder of border studies--Provided by publisher.

Investigating the personal stories behind the headquarters of the Wal-Mart empire, this examination focuses on the growth of Bentonville, Arkansas--a microcosm of America's social, political, and cultural shift. Numerous personalities are interviewed, including a multimillionaire Palestinian refugee who arrived penniless and is now dedicated to building a synagogue, a Mexican mother of three who was fired after injuring herself on the job, a black executive hired to diversify Wal-Mart whose arrival coincided with a KKK rally, and a Hindu father concerned about interracial dating. In documenting these citizens' stories, this account reveals the challenges and issues facing those who compose this and other "boom towns"--where demographics, the economy, and immigration and migration patterns are continually in flux. In shedding light on these important and timely anecdotes of America's changing rural and suburban landscape, this exploration provides an entertaining and intimate chronicle of the different ethnicities, races, and religions as well as their ongoing struggles to adapt. Emerging as subtle sociology combined with drama and humanity, this overview illustrates the imperceptible and occasionally unpredictable movements that affect the nonmetropolitan environment of the United States.

Twenty-two twin border towns from Brownsville to San Diego

A brilliant, kaleidoscopic narrative of Oklahoma City—a great American story of civics, basketball, and destiny, from award-winning journalist Sam Anderson NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • NPR • Chicago Tribune • San Francisco Chronicle • The Economist • Deadspin Oklahoma City was born from chaos. It was founded in a bizarre but momentous “Land Run” in 1889, when thousands of people lined up along the borders of Oklahoma Territory and rushed in at noon to stake their claims. Since then, it has been a city torn between the wild energy that drives its outsized ambitions, and the forces of order that seek sustainable progress. Nowhere was this dynamic better realized than in the drama of the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team’s 2012-13 season, when the Thunder’s brilliant general manager, Sam Presti, ignited a firestorm by trading future superstar James Harden just days before the first game. Presti’s all-in gamble on “the Process”—the patient, methodical management style that dictated the trade as the team’s best hope for long-term greatness—kicked off a pivotal year in the city’s history, one that would include pitched battles over urban planning, a series of cataclysmic tornadoes, and the frenzied hope that an NBA championship might finally deliver the glory of which the city had always dreamed. Boom Town announces the arrival of an exciting literary voice. Sam Anderson, former book critic for New York magazine and now a staff writer at the New York Times magazine, unfolds an idiosyncratic mix of American history, sports reporting, urban studies, gonzo memoir, and much more to tell the strange but compelling story of an American city whose unique mix of geography and history make it a fascinating microcosm of the democratic experiment. Filled with characters ranging from NBA superstars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook; to Flaming Lips oddball frontman Wayne Coyne; to legendary Great Plains meteorologist Gary England; to Stanley Draper, Oklahoma City's would-be Robert Moses; to civil rights activist Clara Luper; to the citizens and public servants who survived the notorious 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building, Boom Town offers a remarkable look at the urban tapestry woven from control and chaos, sports and civics.