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Publisher
A CFR Book. Oxford University Press
Release Date
April 2013
Price
$27.95
288 pages
ISBN 978-0-19-989833-6
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Overview
Five freshly decapitated human heads are thrown onto a crowded dance floor in western Mexico. A Mexican drug cartel dismembers the body of a rival and then stitches his face onto a soccer ball. These are the sorts of grisly tales that dominate the media, infiltrate movies and TV shows, and ultimately shape Americans' perception of Mexico as a dangerous and scary place, overrun by brutal drug lords.
Without a doubt, the drug war is real. In the last six years, over sixty thousand people have been murdered in narco-related crimes. But there is far more to Mexico's story than this gruesome narrative would suggest.
While thugs have been grabbing the headlines, Mexico has undergone an unprecedented and under-publicized political, economic, and social transformation. In her groundbreaking book, Two Nations Indivisible, Shannon K. O'Neil argues that the United States is making a grave mistake by focusing on the politics of antagonism toward Mexico. Rather, we should wake up to the revolution of prosperity now unfolding there.
The news that isn't being reported is that, over the last decade, Mexico has become a real democracy, providing its citizens a greater voice and opportunities to succeed on their own side of the border. Armed with higher levels of education, upwardly mobile men and women have been working their way out of poverty, building the largest, most stable middle class in Mexico's history.
This is the Mexico Americans need to get to know. Now more than ever, the two countries are indivisible. It is past time for the United States to forge a new relationship with its southern neighbor. Because in no uncertain terms, our future depends on it.
Visit Shannon K. O'Neil's blog
Follow Shannon K. O'Neil on Twitter (@latintelligence)
"Two Nations Indivisible is an in-depth analysis of the relationship between two nations that together can play a major role in the twenty-first century."
--Claudio X. Gonzalez, chairman, Mexico Business Council
Read the Publishers Weekly review.
"Shannon O'Neil has combined her deep knowledge of Mexico with illuminating anecdotes and insightful analysis to set out the opportunities and challenges for Mexico and to persuasively make the case that a successful Mexico is of vital importance to the United States. In that context, she thoughtfully explores the policy paths that Mexico and the United States should pursue to realize the potential for Mexico's success that she strongly believes in. And, while this discussion is serious and important, it is also well written and engrossing."
--Robert E. Rubin, former U.S. treasury secretary
"Wedded—for better or for worse. Trade booms, they reshape each other's societies, and Mexico democratizes. Yet, Mexico's thugs get weapons in the United States; U.S. kids get cocaine from Mexico. Shannon O'Neil's smart, articulate, well-researched, and illuminating book sheds light on this binational intimacy, its tragedies and hopes, and sets the path for a better future."
--Jorge Domínguez, professor and vice provost for international affairs, Harvard University
"Two Nations Indivisible provides a brilliant, well-documented roadmap showing how and why the United States and Mexico could and should collaborate to solve shared economic, social, and security challenges and in doing so advance their respective national interests. Leaders, public and private, on both sides of the border should take note."
--Carla A. Hills, former U.S. trade representative, and chairman and CEO of Hills & Company
"Shannon K. O'Neil's Two Nations Indivisible challenges us to delve beyond how and what we think of Mexico and its splashy headlines. Shannon has written an absorbing book about our two nations' common border and mutual destiny, a critical read to grasp turbulent but pivotal and promising Mexico. This is a revealing, fresh look into a country undergoing transformation, a book brimming with insight and thoughtfulness about a strange and difficult neighbor that many of us claim to know, yet so few of us really understand. I was instantly captivated."
--Alfredo Corchado, Mexico correspondent for the Dallas Morning News, and author of Midnight in Mexico
Shannon O'Neil is senior fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). She is a frequent commentator on major television and radio programs, and her work has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs Latinoamerica, Americas Quarterly, Política Exterior, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. Dr. O'Neil has also testified before the U.S. Congress on U.S. policy toward Mexico.
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