He applied the "Page 99 Test" to his new book, Raid and Reconciliation: Pancho Villa, Modernization, and Violence in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, and reported the following:
Page 99 of Raid and Reconciliation contains the second half of the last paragraph of the opening vignette to chapter 4, “Solidifying the Border and Straddling the Line: Development and Resistance.” That page also contains the beginning of a section on Andrew O. Bailey’s efforts to promote the town he founded: Columbus, New Mexico (the small, rural town along the border between New Mexico and Chihuahua that is the geographical focus of the book).Learn more about Raid and Reconciliation at the University of Nebraska Press website.
The opening vignette describes a case in which Bailey asserted his influence as the founder of the border town to elevate a personal dispute to the level of international diplomacy. He called on U.S. officials in the State Department to investigate the alleged robbery of $18.50 by the Mexican mail carrier who was stationed in Palomas, Chihuahua, just across the international boundary from Columbus. When Bailey called upon U.S. authorities to support his claims, the local Mexican residents involved found that the border posed an obstacle to their ability to challenge the allegations. Ultimately, the case didn’t come to much due to the small amount in question and the towns’ remote location. Yet, the episode illustrates the ways in which the border could simultaneously be a barrier and a conduit depending on relative power relations, national heritage, racial background, and socioeconomic status.
Although readers would need context that comes on the preceding two pages to make sense of the larger story, the main arguments and issues explored in the chapter are discussed on page 99. These are also major considerations of the book as a whole, so I would say that Raid and Reconciliation passes the Page 99 Test.
--Marshal Zeringue
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