Here: A Biography of the New American Continent by Anthony Depalma
"The Three Nations of North America are a mystery to each other. Anthony DePalma, in Here, offers the view of a gringo with long and deep knowledge of Mexico, Canada …and the U.S. Prejudice, insight, proximity, distance, suspicion, experience, mutual discovery, love, all come here to do battle in the first, brilliant report of North America as the testing ground of the 21st Century. Can we live together? Can diversity flourish while nurturing unity and necessity?" – Carlos Fuentes
"Tony DePalma has had a unique experience reporting from the three nations of North America. As a result he has written a unique book. This is the perfect time to read it because he has put his finger on the future…" – Peter Jennings
"Christopher Columbus would turn green with envy at Anthony DePalma's discovery of North America that emerges in this impressively reported and beautifully written book. You could not ask for a more engaging guide into the new New World that old-timers once called Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Travel these pages, dear reader, and you will delight that you, too, live Here." – Bill Moyers
"Anthony DePalma has written a book that is both unique and eloquent. DePalma
takes readers on a journey of discovery from one bookend of North America–Mexico–to
the other — Canada — and in so doing illuminates much about the
United States along the way. He brings not only an acute reporter's eye to
this journey, but the perspective of the grandson of immigrants to the Americas,
the son of a longshoreman who handled the trade that now knits these nations
together, the husband of an immigrant and the father of multi-lingual kids.
The combination of his unusual reporting experience, from Hudson Bay to the
Bay of Campeche, and his unusual personal lenses, results in a new, and fun
to read, perspective of the New World." – Thomas L. Friedman
Ray
Suarez talks with Anthony DePalma about Here: A Biography of the New American
Continent
News Hour, September 4, 2001
From Library Journal
A New York Times reporter who has served as bureau chief in both Mexico
and Canada, DePalma presents an astute picture of the fundamentally diverse
histories and national characters of these two countries and the United States.
He examines the political, cultural, and economic consequences of the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), drawing on his own experiences and
observations. This policy, he argues, has revealed shared economic objectives
and irrefutable philosophical links, but it has also exposed deep political
and class differences, unrealistic attempts to control porous borders, the
threat of U.S. cultural domination, and economic chicanery. But DePalma also
reports that unshackling the continental market has doubled continental trade,
added 16 million jobs, inspired enthusiasm for governmental reform, improved
financial reporting, and produced a common currency. DePalma writes with eloquence
and subtle humor, seasoned by the personal experience of having lived in all
three countries. This is a story of the divergent histories, converging values,
and emerging character of a new North America.
"It would be hard to find a surer guide to the new American continent
than Mr. DePalma." -- New York Times, 7/18/01
"Required reading for every American who wants to understand the forces
causing North America to loom larger in our consciousness." -- New
York Times Book Review, 7/8/01
"Compelling . . . a noteworthy achievement." --Time Magazine
7/16/01