14 Miles: Building the Border Wall
An esteemed journalist delivers a compelling on-the-ground account of the construction of President Trump’s border wall in San Diego—and the impact on the lives of local residents.
In August of 2019, Donald Trump finished building his border wall—at least a portion of it. In San Diego, the Army Corps of engineers completed two years of construction on a 14-mile steel beamed barrier that extends eighteen-feet high and cost a staggering $147 million. As one border patrol agent told reporters visiting the site, “It was funded and approved and it was built under his administration. It is Trump’s wall.” 14 Miles is a definitive account of all the dramatic construction, showing readers what it feels like to stand on both sides of the border looking up at the imposing and controversial barrier.
After the Department of Homeland Security announced an open call for wall prototypes in 2017, DW Gibson, an award-winning journalist and Southern California native, began visiting the construction site and watching as the prototype samples were erected. Gibson spent those two years closely observing the work and interviewing local residents to understand how it was impacting them. These include April McKee, a border patrol agent leading a recruiting program that trains teenagers to work as agents; Jeff Schwilk, a retired Marine who organizes pro-wall rallies as head of the group San Diegans for Secure Borders; Roque De La Fuente, an eccentric millionaire developer who uses the construction as a promotional opportunity; and Civile Ephedouard, a Haitian refugee who spent two years migrating through Central America to the United States and anxiously awaits the results of his asylum case.
Fascinating, propulsive, and incredibly timely, 14 Miles is an important work that explains not only how the wall has reshaped our landscape and countless lives but also how its shadow looms over our very identity as a nation.
Simon & Schuster (July 7, 2020)
ISBN: 9781501183416
352 pages
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“Deeply reported and lyrically wrought, DW Gibson's investigation illuminates the border's complex ecosystem and the wall's looming power of disruption.”
— Eliza Griswold, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America
“A timely and eye-opening work of witness. Sometimes searing, always revelatory, Gibson allows the voices of the desert to tell their own harrowing stories.”
— Luis Alberto Urrea, bestselling author of The Devil's Highway and The House of Broken Angels
“14 Miles is a book teeming with voices. In it, DW Gibson talks to migrants and smugglers, border agents and activists, property barons and wall contractors, faith leaders and vigilantes, and border residents of every imaginable stripe. The result is a rich and complex mosaic, one that, while smartly rooted in a singular stretch of terrain, is nevertheless emblematic of our entire incongruous borderline.”
– Francisco Cantú, National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of The Line Becomes a River
“DW Gibson has written the definitive account of the U.S.-Mexico border wall. In 14 Miles, he shows how as each section of the barrier goes up, countless lives are being dismantled. This is an important and eye-opening book.”
— Reyna Grande, bestselling author of The Distance Between Us and A Dream Called Home
“Forget everything you think you know about President Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ border wall. DW Gibson has given us an unforgettable portrait of perhaps the most surreal political project in American history.”
— Christopher Leonard, New York Times bestselling author of Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America
“An up-close and intimate account of what's really happening with construction of the southern border wall. This book is an immersive experience that will bring you closer to one of the most important and misunderstood issues of our time.”
— Oscar Cásares, author of Where We Come From
“Gibson’s book stands out from the pack…peppering us with surreal tidbits…the chapters are easy to gobble up…a layered portrait of both the symbol and the reality of Trump’s endeavor.”
— The New York Times
“Page-turning, often tense narrative... The author’s range of reporting is impressive... Gibson portrays the varied humanity on both sides with journalistic integrity and readable prose that often includes subtle yet biting social commentary. An important current affairs book that deserves a wide audience before the 2020 election.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“Empathetic voice-driven account…Gibson’s multifaceted portrait makes a meaningful contribution to the question of what a humane and sensible immigration policy would look like.”
— Publishers Weekly
“[A] fascinating collection of voices that shows not just how the wall works (or doesn’t) but what it says about our national identity.”
— San Diego Union-Tribune
“Gibson’s interviews entice readers to be a fly on the wall…Readers should accept the enticement.”
— Albuquerque Journal