There may be no story today with a wider gap between fact and fiction than the relationship between the United States and Mexico. Wall or no wall, deeply intertwined social, economic, business, cultural, and personal relationships mean the US-Mexico border is more like a seam than a barrier, weaving together two economies and cultures. Mexico faces huge crime and corruption problems, but its remarkable transformation over the past two decades has made it a more educated, prosperous, and innovative nation than most Americans realize. Through portraits of business leaders, migrants, chefs, movie directors, police officers, and media and sports executives, Andrew Selee looks at this emerging Mexico, showing how it increasingly influences our daily lives in the United States in surprising ways--the jobs we do, the goods we consume, and even the new technology and entertainment we enjoy. From the Mexican entrepreneur in Missouri who saved the US nail industry, to the city leaders who were visionary enough to build a bridge over the border fence so the people of San Diego and Tijuana could share a single international airport, to the connections between innovators in Mexico's emerging tech hub in Guadalajara and those in Silicon Valley, Mexicans and Americans together have been creating productive connections that now blur the boundaries that once separated us from each other

Introduction: Intimate strangers -- "we build a bridge across the fence" : San Diego and Tijuana become a single metropolitan area -- "North America has become a shared production platform" : Trade transforms the Mexican and American economies -- "Production has gone up, employment has gone up, investment has gone up" : Mexican companies invest in American growth -- "Creating innovative technology that solves real problems" : Innovation networks expand across the border -- "We can't talk about US energy independence, but we can talk about energy independence in North America" : Finding a common future in energy -- "We've got a huge problem here" : Learning to cooperate on security issues -- "Turning the Cosa Nostra into the Sopranos" : Americans and Mexicans confront organized crime together -- "If I were to go back, I'd still be homesick" : Migrants reshape communities on both sides of the border -- "I now feel welcome in this country" : A million American's move to Mexico -- "A tsunami of Mexican Talent" : How Mexican filmmakers went global -- "We've gone from ethnic to mainstream" : How Mexican influence is changing America from within -- Vanishing frontiers : What future holds

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