Walls

September 1, 2013
Canadian journalist Di Cintio (Poets and Pahlevans: A Journey into the Heart of Iran, 2006, etc.) leads a whirlwind tour of the world, looking at the unlikely places where the human mania for erecting barriers has shown itself. Take the Western Sahara, for example, all rippling sand dunes and the occasional oasis, formerly known as the Spanish Sahara. When Francisco Franco was dying, he sent up a casual middle finger to his anti-colonial foes by dividing the territory between Morocco and Mauritania, countries that promptly set about squabbling over it. The result? Thanks to endless hard work, a wall now extends into the desert that is "longer than the Great Wall of China"--though it's not likely to last as long. The wall may make its Moroccan builders feel more secure, but people have a habit of getting over and around such structures, as Di Cintio notes when considering the walls that have gone up on the U.S.-Mexico border and between Israel and the Palestinian settlements. The walls are everywhere: In the last Spanish settlements on the African continent, Ceuta and Melilla, walls proclaim that here stands Europe, while the wall that divides India from Pakistan is permeable precisely because the people who live there aren't as concerned with being separated as the politicians in Karachi and New Delhi are. Even in Canada, Di Cintio observes, which boasts the world's longest unarmed border, obstacles divide the wealthy from the poor of Montreal: a structure known as "the Fence of Shame and the Wall of Shame--the same term used for the berm in the Western Sahara." Solid journalism that takes readers into cheerless, contested places they probably would not wish to see for themselves. An eye-opener.

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July 1, 2013
Even as technology and globalization promise the destruction of barriers internationally, nations, regions, cities, and nationalities continue to erect walls and barriers to separate themselves from others of all types. Di Cintio offers a tour of walls and barriers of stone, steel, brick, and other materials in this first-person exploration of walls as impressions of power and will, isolation and protection. From the Middle East to the Americas, Di Cintio ponders why societies build walls and the impact on populations on both sides of them. He offers character sketches of individuals and nationsPalestinian villagers protesting Israel's security barrier, Mexicans diligently penetrating the U.S. border in Arizona, illegal immigrants circumventing the barriers to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa. Those who would penetrate a barrier risk life and limb for a chance at advancement, while the protectors often go medieval to keep them out. Di Cintio offers historic perspective from the Great Wall of China to the Roman emperor Hadrian's wall across what became Britain and from the Maginot Line to the Berlin Wall. An engaging look at the meaning of walls.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)