by Matthew Carr (Get the Book)Tens of thousands of men, women, and children have undertaken perilous journeys to Europe during the last two decades, traveling dangerous routes across oceans and vast deserts without travel documents, stowed away in packed boats that often capsize, hanging upside down underneath trucks and trains, hidden in the wheel carriages of jet planes. The power of this stirring, authentic account comes from Carr's ability to capture the refugee experience through his face-to-face interviews and his passionate observation of the current scene, including human trafficking, in which women and minors are forced to choose between deportation and exploitation. Now there is electronic technology to screen asylum seekers, but, as always, racism emerges in the form of xenophobia masked as patriotism (even in countries with a history of racial mixing) directed against scum of the earth foreigners who are blamed for crime and unemployment. From today's headlines, there is the bleak irony that the same governments bombing Libya to protect its people were refusing to protect the migrants displaced by the war. Carr quotes pro-refugee groups such as Doctors without Borders and Human Rights Watch on the brutal holding conditions: They aren't allowed to come; they're not allowed to stay; and they're not allowed to leave. A final chapter makes connections with the U.S. The hot issues are sure to spark debate on all sides. --Booklist
