In Barbarians at the Wall, Vázquez examines the political construction of migrants as adversaries infiltrating our societies, threatening or even destroying our identity and future. Yet another reality deserves recognition: migrants have always been here, helping build the rich, strong, and diverse modern societies we are today. A book worth reading for much-needed reflection.

Diana Alarcón González, Alternate Executive Director for Mexico, Spain and Central America, World Bank, USA

This brilliant book helps us think through one of the most fraught problems of our times: the wall separating the US from its southern neighbor. Drawing on historical and humanistic inquiry, Vázquez renders the wall in its many dimensions: brick and mortar, symbolic barrier, ideological construct, and ever-expanding machine of separation. Here is scholarship at its most enlightening and courageous.

Diana Sorensen, James F. Rothenberg Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of Comparative Literature, Harvard University, USA

A necessary and timely book, Barbarians at the Wall articulates discourse analysis, ideology and political practices. Deep but accessible, Vázquez penetrates the intricacies of identity and otherness through a wise exploration of cultural history, exposing the connections between barbarism and citizenship, mystification and dehumanization. A crucial intervention in the debates surrounding the current migration crisis, its roots and its effects.

Mabel Moraña, William H. Gass Professor in Arts and Sciences and Director of the Latin American Studies Program, Washington University in St. Louis, USA

Vázquez offers an insider's look at the historical challenges of managing the border between the United States and Mexico. The historical, economic, and familial ties that bind our two nations have led them to swing from allies to enemies and back again. His book is current, humane, and forward looking, connecting the past to where we are today and where we may be headed tomorrow: what was made by history can be unmade.

Todd D. Robinson, diplomat and career minister, USA

Barbarians at the Wall tells how America learned to see its southern neighbor, and the Mexicans and Mexican Americans within its borders, as a threat. Vázquez traces that idea from antiquity through conquest, racial stereotype, immigration law, and the War on Drugs. But it is also about what becomes possible beyond fear, and how migration made America what it is.

Reza Aslan, author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, USA

Gripping and rigorous, Juan de Dios Vázquez's book dissects the ways in which fear, in one part of the U.S. population, turned migrants into invaders and into "barbarians." Among its many consequences is the recasting of a strategic neighbor, Mexico, as a geopolitical adversary. Understanding the metamorphosis of so vast a border requires books like Vázquez's. It is essential reading.

Sergio Aguayo, renowned Mexican scholar, author, and political analyst, El Colegio de México