The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story
Ebook
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Overview
The award-winning biography of an undocumented teen mother’s struggle with US immigration: “A rich, novelistic [and] illuminating work of literature” (Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times Book Review).
One of Esquire’s 50 Best Biographies of All Time
In 1987, Aida Hernandez was born in Agua Prieta, Mexico. At the time, the nearby US border was little more than a worn-down fence. Eight years later, Aida’s mother took her and her siblings to live in Douglas, Arizona. By then, the border had become one of the most heavily policed sites in America.
Undocumented, Aida fought to make her way. She learned English, watched Friends, and, after having a baby at sixteen, dreamed of teaching dance and moving with her son to New York City. Instead, Aida was separated from her son and deported to a Mexican city marked by violence. The daughter of a rebel hero from the mountains of Chihuahua, Aida embarked on a harrowing journey to reunite with her son. But returning to the United States was just the beginning of her quest.
Taking us into detention centers, immigration courts, and the inner lives of Aida and other daring characters, The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez reveals the human consequences of militarizing what was once a more forgiving border. Author Aaron Bobrow-Strain brings us into the heart of a violently unequal America, showing that the people caught in today’s immigrations wars are flawed, complex humans who deserve justice and empathy.
Winner of the 2020 Pacific Northwest Book Award
Winner of the 2020 Washington State Book Award
Named a 2019 Southwest Book of the Year
One of Esquire’s 50 Best Biographies of All Time
In 1987, Aida Hernandez was born in Agua Prieta, Mexico. At the time, the nearby US border was little more than a worn-down fence. Eight years later, Aida’s mother took her and her siblings to live in Douglas, Arizona. By then, the border had become one of the most heavily policed sites in America.
Undocumented, Aida fought to make her way. She learned English, watched Friends, and, after having a baby at sixteen, dreamed of teaching dance and moving with her son to New York City. Instead, Aida was separated from her son and deported to a Mexican city marked by violence. The daughter of a rebel hero from the mountains of Chihuahua, Aida embarked on a harrowing journey to reunite with her son. But returning to the United States was just the beginning of her quest.
Taking us into detention centers, immigration courts, and the inner lives of Aida and other daring characters, The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez reveals the human consequences of militarizing what was once a more forgiving border. Author Aaron Bobrow-Strain brings us into the heart of a violently unequal America, showing that the people caught in today’s immigrations wars are flawed, complex humans who deserve justice and empathy.
Winner of the 2020 Pacific Northwest Book Award
Winner of the 2020 Washington State Book Award
Named a 2019 Southwest Book of the Year
- Title: The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story
- Author: Aaron Bobrow-Strain
- Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 434
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9780374717179, 0374717176
- Resource ID: LLS:9780374717179
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-21T10:25:57Z
Aaron Bobrow-Strain is a professor of politics at Whitman College, where he teaches courses dealing with food, immigration, and the U.S.-Mexico border. His writing has appeared in Believer, The Chronicle of Higher Education Review, Salon, and Gastronomica. He is the author of White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf and Intimate Enemies: Landowners, Power, and Violence in Chiapas. In the 1990s, he worked on the U.S.-Mexico border as an activist and educator. He is a founding member of the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition in Washington State.