Theater of the Borderlands: Conflict, Violence, and Healing is an enlightening and encompassing study that focuses on how dramatists from the Northern Mexico border territories utilize theater as a means to present the US-Mexico Borderlands in a sociohistorical and political context. By dealing with both universal and timely themes, such as immigration reform, the indigenous, violence, Border crossings, and more, this invaluable interdisciplinary resource grants eye-opening insight to Border relations through several critical dramaturgical readings.

"This is a book about theater in the context of space, specifically the borderland between Mexico and the US, a contended space once considered by the Spanish empire too remote to control. Now the US and Mexican cultures have converged to become 'Amexica,' a conflicted land with profound scars. In each of this book's five chapters Moreno explores a topic attached to a specific population: indigenous groups identified with tribes that inhabited the area before the Spanish arrived; the border crossers with their religious syncretism, trusting saints, and other holy figures to protect them across the desert; the narcos and their violence; women trapped in the world of the maquiladoras or killed by members of sadistic cults in Ciudad Juárez; and, finally, the world of Tijuana, an evolving 'transfrontier' metropolis. The plays discussed showcase the encounter of these unique subcultures, climatic moments providing a background against which frontier people define their daily struggle to survive. Detailed description of the plays and ancillary sociological and historical information are included, bringing the reader into the plays' thematic complexity. A bibliography points to additional interesting sources. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty." - CHOICE