Milked

Praise for Milked: “An exceptionally thoughtful examination of fundamental issues—immigration, farm and food policy, globalization—that leaders in Washington have struggled to address on a deeply human level.”—The Capital Times“Milked reaches far beyond the people its author profiled. The stories are personal and universal, stretching into farms and fields across the country and over borders.”—Modern Farmer“[An] illuminating, distressing, yet oddly optimistic exploration of America’s Dairy Land.”—Washington Monthly

“Sensitively reported and cautiously optimistic about finding common ground, this is a worthwhile look behind the headlines.”—Publishers Weekly “Readers will find more than a story of farming and politics; they will be drawn in by personal stories and friendships that transcend culture.”—Booklist “Conniff brings her skills and insights to a particularly urgent project.”—E.J. Dionne Jr., co-author of 100% Democracy “From the back roads of Mexico to the dairy farms of Wisconsin, Milked is a wondrous and important work of ‘going there’ reportage. Ruth Conniff breaks through so many misperceptions and stereotypes to reveal the commonality of the human experience.”—David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father “Illuminates the profound connections and commonalities between undocumented agriculture workers and their American employers while examining the policies that have pushed both groups into painful precarity.”—Bernice Yeung, author of In a Day’s Work: The Fight to End Sexual Violence Against America’s Most Vulnerable Workers “Anyone who wants to understand the real relationship between people in the United States and Mexico should read Milked.”—David Bacon, author of Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants “The only way we will ever fully appreciate the vital role immigration plays in shaping the American economy is by understanding the human beings who are drawn together—across borders and cultures—by a rough combination of necessity and hope. Ruth Conniff, with her remarkable eye for detail and her global perspective, provides us with the road map we require to find a future where fear and vision are replaced by love and solidarity. This is a remarkable, redeeming book.”—John Nichols, national affairs correspondent for The Nation “A heartfelt collection of stories from both sides of the border detailing life and work experiences that unite rather than divide people, this is a must-read for anyone interested in the human dimension of economic forces in two different but complementary regions.”—Alberto M. Vargas, associate director, Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Ruth Conniff is the editor-in-chief of the Wisconsin Examiner and editor-at-large and former editor-in-chief of The Progressive magazine. She has appeared on Good Morning America, C-SPAN, and NPR and has been a frequent guest on All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC. Milked: How an American Crisis Brought Together Midwestern Dairy Farmers and Mexican Workers (The New Press) is her first book. Conniff lives in Madison, Wisconsin.