On Aug 4, 2010, at 2:33 PM, Eric Beck wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 12:30 PM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
>> What work? A good friend of mine from college came out of the Calexico aristocracy (i.e., her grandfather named the place, along with Mexicali, and ran a private army for the Chandler family in Baja). Can't believe what a godforsaken place it is - the air stinks of ag chemicals, you can't drink the water (or even brush your teeth with it) because of all the toxic runoff, and it's always like 105 degrees. Always interested in hearing more.
>
> William Vollmann can tell you more. Lots more, 1100 pages more
> <http://www.amazon.com/Imperial-William-T-Vollmann/dp/0670020613>.
>
> I checked it out from the library a couple months ago and have been
> using it as my bathroom book -- don't check it out after me! -- but
> I've barely made a dent. His narrative chapters are kind of annoying
> -- mostly because of his style and their magazine gloss -- but he
> pulls up some fascinating records and artifacts. Even though his
> approach isn't remotely Marxist, he is mostly concerned with the
> material: economics, business, labor, migration, etc., which makes it
> pretty interesting. But 1100 pages. Jeez
Hmm, anything about Grandpa Cantu you could recount?