Waiting for José : : The Minutemen's Pursuit of America / / Harel Shapira.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2017
• VerfasserIn: Shapira, Harel,
• TeilnehmendeR: Shapira, Harel.
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2017]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (216 p.) :; 10 b/w illus.

They live in the suburbs of Tennessee and Indiana. They fought in Vietnam and Desert Storm. They speak about an older, better America, an America that once was, and is no more. And for the past decade, they have come to the U.S. / Mexico border to hunt for illegal immigrants. Who are the Minutemen? Patriots? Racists? Vigilantes? Harel Shapira lived with the Minutemen and patrolled the border with them, seeking neither to condemn nor praise them, but to understand who they are and what they do. Challenging simplistic depictions of these men as right-wing fanatics with loose triggers, Shapira discovers a group of men who long for community and embrace the principles of civic engagement. Yet these desires and convictions have led them to a troubling place. Shapira takes you to that place--a stretch of desert in southern Arizona, where he reveals that what draws these men to the border is not simply racism or anti-immigrant sentiments, but a chance to relive a sense of meaning and purpose rooted in an older life of soldiering. They come to the border not only in search of illegal immigrants, but of lost identities and experiences. Now with a new afterword by the author, Waiting for José brings understanding to a group of people in search of lost identities and experiences.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- The Minutemen Chain of Command -- Acknowledgments -- Preface: A Place on the Border -- Introduction: All Quiet on the Southern Front -- Chapter 1: American Dreams -- Chapter 2: Camp Vigilance -- Chapter 3: Gordon and His Guns -- Chapter 4: Scenes from the Border -- Chapter 5: Encounters -- Conclusion: Belonging in America -- Afterword to the Paperback Edition -- Appendix: A Note on Methodology -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index