cover image Tunnel Kids

Tunnel Kids

Lawrence E. Taylor, Maeve Hickey. University of Arizona Press, $19.95 (148pp) ISBN 978-0-8165-1926-2

In the drainage tunnels between sister cities Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales, Mexico, live dozens of people, most of them teenagers. Lawrence Taylor, head of the anthropology department at the National University of Ireland, and photographer Maeve Hickey spent two summers with tunnel regulars and visitors, working with them on video projects, accompanying them on trips, witnessing and helping them in major and minor crises. Having gained the kids' trust, Taylor delivers unassuming, respectful and keen observations of the teens' lives, paired with Hickey's lovely photographs in Tunnel Kids (the two also collaborated on The Road to Mexico). They have produced a haunting, nuanced sketch of a world far outside the experience of most Americans and an important, unpretentious contribution to border literature.