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Without a Country: The Untold Story of America's Deported Veterans
Many Americans believe service in the military to be a quintessential way to demonstrate patriotism. We expect those who serve to be treated with respect and dignity. However, as in so many aspects of our politics, the reality and our ideals diverge widely in our treatment of veterans. There is perhaps no starker example of this than the continued practice of deporting men and women who have served.
J. Malcolm Garcia has travelled across the country and abroad to interview veterans who have been deported, as well as the families and friends they have left behind, giving the full scope of the tragedy to be found in this all too common practice. Without a Country analyzes the political climate that has led us here and takes a hard look at the toll deportation has taken on American vets and their communities.
Deported veterans share in and reflect the diversity of America itself. The numerous compounding injustices meted out to them reflect many of the still unresolved contradictions of our nation and its ideals. But this story, in all its grit and complexity, really boils down to an old, simple Who is a real American?
J. Malcolm Garcia has travelled across the country and abroad to interview veterans who have been deported, as well as the families and friends they have left behind, giving the full scope of the tragedy to be found in this all too common practice. Without a Country analyzes the political climate that has led us here and takes a hard look at the toll deportation has taken on American vets and their communities.
Deported veterans share in and reflect the diversity of America itself. The numerous compounding injustices meted out to them reflect many of the still unresolved contradictions of our nation and its ideals. But this story, in all its grit and complexity, really boils down to an old, simple Who is a real American?
231 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 26, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 14, 2021
Excellent book!
If you ever have vacillating thoughts on the illegal question, then read this book. Your mind will explode with a different vision of it. It really sucks to be in the predicament that these veterans face after they serve. While not all are angels, they walk a thin line between how to view the country they served and how to view the country that is not serving them.
This book will make you think!!
If you ever have vacillating thoughts on the illegal question, then read this book. Your mind will explode with a different vision of it. It really sucks to be in the predicament that these veterans face after they serve. While not all are angels, they walk a thin line between how to view the country they served and how to view the country that is not serving them.
This book will make you think!!
January 11, 2018
Controversial issue and well written. Very hard to side with these veterans but left me thinking.
July 29, 2018
Too much language. Writing style was infantile. Author is quite prejudiced toward the deportees, seeming to tell only part of the story.
February 11, 2023
I really wanted to like this book, and it's probably why it took me a while to finish (other than school work).
And I assumed J. Malcolm Garcia wanted the reader to sympathize with the deported veterans. However, reading the book made me feel the opposite.
Garcia took until near the end of the book to reveal what the injustice was, other than the deportation of veterans. You then think, "Oh, that's right!" and you sympathize with them. Perhaps if Garcia had revealed this in the beginning, and compared their stories to U.S. citizens in the justice system -veteran or not-it would better explain the disservice to the deported veterans.
Moreover, I feel Garcia putting himself in the story did not fit the narrative. In those moments, it was more about him than the veteran or family member he spoke to, and his "hard times" paled compared to their hard times, which is trying to go back home, the United States. Basically, it was comparing apples to oranges.
Nevertheless, this is a book that informs people about military veterans being deported, and living in the Bunker in Tijuana, Mexico. It's an issue that needs to be discussed and known.
I'm just not sure if Garcia's book is the one to do it.
And I assumed J. Malcolm Garcia wanted the reader to sympathize with the deported veterans. However, reading the book made me feel the opposite.
Garcia took until near the end of the book to reveal what the injustice was, other than the deportation of veterans. You then think, "Oh, that's right!" and you sympathize with them. Perhaps if Garcia had revealed this in the beginning, and compared their stories to U.S. citizens in the justice system -veteran or not-it would better explain the disservice to the deported veterans.
Moreover, I feel Garcia putting himself in the story did not fit the narrative. In those moments, it was more about him than the veteran or family member he spoke to, and his "hard times" paled compared to their hard times, which is trying to go back home, the United States. Basically, it was comparing apples to oranges.
Nevertheless, this is a book that informs people about military veterans being deported, and living in the Bunker in Tijuana, Mexico. It's an issue that needs to be discussed and known.
I'm just not sure if Garcia's book is the one to do it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews