WRITING AND RESEARCHING this book involved a tremendous voyage through the present as much as the past, and I am very thankful to have had so many people supporting me along the way. I would first like to thank the team at Grove Atlantic, not least my editor, George Gibson, whose insightful comments and suggestions added a great deal to this book; as well as his predecessor Jamison Stolz and publisher Morgan Entrekin, who were enthusiastic about the idea from the start. My gratitude also goes to Emily Burns and Julia Berner-Tobin for all their help and patience. Many thanks, too, to my agent, Bill Hamilton, for his ongoing support.
Special thanks go to my very generous friends who took time to read earlier chapters, or, indeed, entire drafts. Thank you to Andrea Acle-Kreysing, Juan Cobo Betancourt, Teresa Cribelli, J. Michael Francis, and Juan José Ponce-Vázquez. Also, a big thank you to Rory Foster for helping me keep my comma usage, and my facts, straight. Any subsequent errors, despite their efforts, are my own.
I was also fortunate to have the opportunity to work out some of my ideas through presenting seminar papers, and would like to thank Eduardo Posada-Carbó at the Latin American Centre at the University of Oxford and Kate Quinn, Gad Heuman, and Steve Cushion at the UCL Institute of the Americas Caribbean seminar for their interest in this project. A book like this could not exist without the work of so many others, and I am profoundly grateful that there is such a rich and diverse historiography from which to draw.
* * *
The travel for this book was extensive. Starting in Tennessee and Georgia, I’d like to thank my family, especially my mom and dad, whose homes were the hubs for my travel, as well as my brothers and extended family. In Georgia, thanks also go to Benjamin Carr, Hollie Cope, Beth and Nick Gadd, and Crystal and Teague Paulk-Buchanan. Special thanks are due to the Dalton High School class of 1994. My classmates threw a great twentieth reunion, and some even helped me contact the necessary people for my research. A special thank-you goes to the generosity of the Viamonte family.
Over the course of my travels, I stopped at a lot of U.S. national parks, where I was impressed and touched by the obvious enthusiasm of the staff. The parks were one of the real joys of this trip, and the National Park Service employees deserve a great deal of gratitude for the work they do.
In South Carolina, Eric and Charlotte Rayburn were, as always, exemplary hosts. In Florida, David and Rebecca Ferguson’s generosity allowed me to explore Pensacola, and Michael Deibert helped me make sense of Miami. The staffs at the St. Augustine Historical Society, the University of South Florida, and the University of West Florida were generous with their time. Farther north, in New York City, thanks go to Jennifer and Dana Burleson, Christine de la Garza, and Reynaldo Ortiz-Minaya. The Hunter College Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños and the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture continue to be wonderful places to work.
Heading west, I found it a delight to make numerous trips to Arizona, and thanks go to Carol Brochin, Kira Dixon-Weinstein, Ceci Garcia, Valarie James, and Lauren Raine. In Texas, it was lovely to have Ernesto J. Cavazos and Kristal Gaston meet me while I was making my way around the exceptionally helpful special collections at the University of Houston, Rice University, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and the wonderful Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. Thanks are also due to Tony and Carla Hughes for their hospitality in Harlingen. In New Mexico, a very big thank-you goes to Joseph Martin for my tour of Acoma Sky City. Thanks, too, go to the University of New Mexico Center for Southwestern Research and Special Collections in Albuquerque, and the New Mexico State University Special Collection in Las Cruces.
On the West Coast, the Bancroft Library at the University of California Berkeley was a rich repository, and it was also a delight for me to talk history with Elena Schneider while I was in town. Farther up the coast, special thanks go to Renee Koplan for my memorable stay in Lopez Island, Washington. A big thank-you as well to Julie Schimunek and the crew of the MV Uchuck III for helping me reach Nootka Sound.
A few thousand miles away in Cuba, Jorge Renato Ibarra Guitart was once again a great help, as was Angelina Rojas Blaquier. It was always a pleasure to stay with Armando and Betty Gutiérrez at my Cuban home away from home. At the Instituto de Historia de Cuba, thanks go to René González Barrios and Yoel Cordoví Núñez, with a special thank-you to Belkis Quesada Guerra. In Puerto Rico, thanks go to Héctor Feliciano and María Concepción for their hospitality.
In Mexico City, many thanks are due to Lourdes Aguirre for her generosity in showing us so many of Mexico’s fabulous historical sites. Thanks also to Anne Staples, Ryan Jordan, Ricardo Fagoaga, and Isabel Povea Moreno. It was an added treat to cross paths with Iris Montero while we were both visiting the capital.
My friends in the U.K. and Europe have been listening to me talk about this book for years, and for that alone they deserve a shout-out: thanks go to David Batty, Mark Berry, Victoria Burgher, Lucas Cavazos, Chloe Stockford, Yvonne Singh, Tiffany Ferris and Chris Hall, Vicky Frost and Anthony Pickles, Lisa and Simon Hill, Mariama Ifode-Blease and Oliver Blease, Diana Siclovan and Josh Newton, Anne-Isabelle Richard and Alexandre Afonso.
More gratitude than I could fit on these pages is due to my husband, Chris Stanford, whose patience, humor, and generosity have helped me navigate the sometimes rocky logistical and emotional terrain of researching and writing a book like this. Finally, I must thank my dear friend and brother, Matthew Cavazos, who introduced me to the world of the border with his tales of growing up in Texas. Little did he know, a few years later he would be my guide through El Norte. This book is for him.