The Countdown Begins!
Three months from today—June 18, 2024—Crossing the Line will cross the line!
It's a sprint to the finish line now. Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands can be in your hands three months from today: June 18!
I am grateful and relieved to report that accolades are already pouring in!
Ken Burns, renowned filmmaker, storyteller, and historian, praised the work, saying:
“Sarah Towle has obliterated today’s dead-end arguments about immigration and transformed them into riveting, human stories. We forget that ideas—good and bad—have always crossed our borderlines; only human beings need a piece of paper. We all deserve a narrative with clarity, and Towle's has delivered. Spectacular!
Scott Allen, former editor of Boston Globe “Spotlight,” the oldest continuously operating investigative journalism team in the US, called it “investigative journalism at its best”—high praise, indeed, given I don’t identify as a journalist! Scott states,
“With Crossing the Line, Sarah Towle exposes the relentlessly cruel US immigration system—where people become numbers and disappear for years, even forever—as she restores humanity to an issue currently lost in a blizzard of polarizing ideology and hate. Sarah makes it clear that what is unfolding now is not just Trump-era politics—it’s rooted in American exploitation of our southern neighbors. For anyone who wants to understand the dysfunctional immigration debate beyond slogans, Crossing the Line is an absolute must-read.”
Luz Virginia Lopez, Senior Supervising Attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Immigrant Justice Project, thanked me “for lifting up these voices and not relenting. Congratulations,” Luz continues, “on a compelling read.”
“Crossing the Line is a well-researched yet accessible exposé of border policies that harm migrants and undermine the promise of America. From the ‘family separation’ policies of the Trump administration to the massive growth of immigrant detention, Towle’s ability to weave together first-hand stories of accidental activists—including priests, attorneys, and concerned locals—with the broader policy context is on display in an ambitious book infused with a profound commitment to humanity and justice. Every concerned citizen should read this book.”
Heidi Ostertag of Worldwide Documentaries, creator of Oh Mercy—Searching For Hope In The Promised Land and the forthcoming film, Running to Stand Still, offered these glorious pearls:
“A beautiful book, awesomely reported. What an accomplishment and contribution to this issue. Sarah has written this with great empathy. The focus remains squarely on rehumanizing those most harmed by US immigration policies. The chronology makes the meta-story even more riveting and appalling.”
Reece Jones, author of numerous books on the global border-industrial complex, including White Borders, Violent Borders, and Nobody is Protected, and one of my main research sources gifted me this:
“With a propulsive narrative and an engaging style, Crossing the Line is an important contribution to our understanding of the borderlands, and by extension, America itself.”
Dylan Corbett, Executive Director of El Paso’s Hope Border Institute, thanked me for capturing his community’s story with such “grace-filled and beautiful writing.”
Elizabeth “Lizee” Cavazos and Madeleine Sandefur, both Angry Tías of the Rio Grande Valley, called the work, “Inspiring and transporting from the opening passage,” and “Absolutely BRILLIANT! A masterpiece!” respectively.
Team Brownsville’s Juan-David Lucio declared it: “Powerful and true. An important historical account.”
While Witness at the Border’s Camillo Perez-Bustillo, author of Human Rights, Hegemony, and Utopia in Latin America, states that Crossing the Line is…
"A beautiful, powerful work. Sweeping and majestic, and a striking, flowing synthesis to tell the overall story that needs to be told.”
Camilo is also the San Francisco Bay Area head of my burgeoning National Launch Tour Dream Team. Thanks to Camilo, Crossing the Line will be revealed in a mega-celebration at the Mission-based Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore and Gallery.
Come one, Come all!
June 18, 2024
Medicine for Nightmares | Medicina para Pesadillas
3036 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Enjoy Readings, Speeches, Local Art, Live Music, and Dinner Tamales!
If you’re in the Bay Area, RSVP “YES, Sarah I’m Coming” here…
If you’re not in the Bay Area and would like to follow in Camilo’s footsteps to form or join a Launch Tour Dream Team and/or host an event online or in your corner of the USA, I look forward to hearing from you, too!
Event planning is already underway in:
Ann Arbor, MI: week of June 23
Washington, DC: week of July 7
Los Angeles, CA, dates TBD
Minneapolis, MN, dates TBD
New York, NY, dates TBD
El Paso, TX, late October, 2024
For now, I leave you with this last book endorsement from a colleague at the Cameroon Advocacy Network and one of my trusted first-readers, Merry Hancock:
“Sometimes you ache for the unvarnished truth. Sarah Towle tells it in this book—the whole truth, good, bad, and ugly. She speaks for the silent hordes seeking ‘the lamp beside the golden door’ to be opened for them, giving access to the wonder that is America.”
Congratulations. I’ve ordered the book
Congratulations, Sarah! The finish line is is view. I will pre-order.