Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis Audiobook

Quotes

• Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here is a searing, gut-wrenching, and masterfully reported account of one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the twenty-first century. No one has told this story so well as Jonathan Blitzer, whose incisive historical and political analysis brings into devastatingly sharp relief the gripping, heartbreaking tales told to him by migrants in search of ‘una cucharita de justicia,’ a little spoonful of justice.

  — Jill Lepore, New York Times bestselling author of These Truths: A History of the United States

• As a Salvadoran, and as a previously undocumented person living in the United States, it has felt impossible to find a single comprehensive, concise timeline that could tie my existence in this country to the wars funded by US taxpayers. Through in-depth research, a commitment to truth, and brilliant storytelling, Jonathan Blitzer has written the quintessential book that links Central American migration to US imperialism. Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here is a masterpiece that everybody, everybody should read.

  — Javier Zamora, New York Times bestselling author of Solito

• I have a lot of resistance to reading about immigration because I do not feel that I, an immigrant, am the intended audience, but Jon’s writing is different. He does not ogle, romanticize, proselytize, or condescend. His storytelling is bold, and the research involved is impressive, but what I admire most about this book is its moral clarity. It’s crystalline. I really loved it. I couldn’t put it down.

  — Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, author of The Undocumented Americans

• This book will tear your heart out. Both intimate and comprehensive, it treks deep into the tragedies of El Salvador, Guatemala, and US immigration policy. Jon Blitzer’s reporting is vast, meticulous, and authoritative. The main characters are drawn with the richness of great fiction.

  — William Finnegan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Barbarian Days

• With rare humanity, narrative acumen, and a detective’s eye for the telling detail, Jonathan Blitzer has given the U.S.-Central American immigration crisis the epic treatment that it deserves. This is the story of ordinary people forced to live extraordinary lives in a time of endless tumult. Reminiscent of classic past social inquiries by the likes of George Orwell and Tracy Kidder, Everyone who is Gone is Here is an unparalleled piece of modern journalism about one of the most compelling, and polarizing issues of our time. A remarkable and invaluable achievement.

  — Jon Lee Anderson, bestselling author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life

• A decades-long regional tragedy plays out in riveting detail, and no one who reads Jonathan Blitzer’s marvelous new book will ever view the current headlines in quite the same way. Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here is a breathtaking and immersive work of journalism, laying out in novelistic detail the violent, treacherous roots of the current immigration crisis. It’s a riveting, maddening, and ultimately moving story that every American who cares about immigration should read.

  — Daniel Alarcón, author of At Night We Walk in Circles and Lost City Radio

• Everyone Who Is Gone is Here is a book about immigration of unparalleled significance: a definitive history of the human tragedy wrought by decades of flawed U.S. policies, and the rare triumph of those who outrun, outwit, and outlast them.

  — Eliza Griswold, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Amity and Prosperity

• Powerful and deeply compelling, Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here shows how Central American migration has created deep interconnections between the US, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. This story reminds readers that migration is not only a political issue but a human one.

  — Ana Raquel Minian, author of In the Shadow of Liberty

• Powerful and deeply compelling, Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here shows how Central American migration has created deep interconnections between the US, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. This story reminds readers that migration is not only a political issue but a human one.

  — Ana Raquel Minian, author of In the Shadow of Liberty

• “Blitzer, a staff writer for the New Yorker, debuts with a masterful portrayal of the trauma experienced by asylum-seeking migrants from Central America and the U.S. government’s often inept policy interventions . . . Blitzer has produced a model of long-form journalism that intertwines the personal and the political . . . This is a powerful indictment of U.S. immigration policy.

  — Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

• Blitzer, a staff writer for the New Yorker, debuts with a masterful portrayal of the trauma experienced by asylum-seeking migrants from Central America and the U.S. government’s often inept policy interventions . . . Blitzer has produced a model of long-form journalism that intertwines the personal and the political . . . This is a powerful indictment of U.S. immigration policy.

  — Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

• Conditions on the U.S.–Mexico border have worsened as thousands of Central Americans clamor to enter the U.S., braving diversion tactics that have included separating children from their families and placing adults in conditions that resemble concentration camps. It’s a sorrowful yet urgent topic, and Blitzer navigates it with both journalistic rigor and compassion. A sobering, well-reported history in which no one emerges a winner.

  — ​Kirkus (starred review)