Life Death and In-Between on the U.S.-Mexico Border

Loustaunau and Snchez-Bane combine their many years of association and collaboration dealing with health issues in the U.S.-Mexico border area to bring together a series of chapters illustrating that as es la vida that''s life need not indicate a fatalistic acceptance that poverty sickness misery and misfortune must be taken in stride. The authors of the chapters have researched studied worked with or have been borderlanders themselves.The chapters focus on the impact of the social structure and on the power and determination of people to change their conditions for the better increasing their choices and enlarging their worlds. They look beyond political and economic barriers to find the spark in the human spirit that must be identified and nurtured to produce a better life for the benefit of peoples and nations on both sides of the border and to nourish the third culture as a bridge between nations. The authors note the dangers and pitfalls along the way and the need for more realistic policies and programs to empower people to define their own problems and to participate in fashioning the solutions.