{"product_id":"9781615197347","title":"Wall Disease : The Psychological Toll of Living Up Against a Border","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eWall Disease\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Jessica Wapner\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWe build border walls to keep danger \u003ci\u003eout\u003c\/i\u003e. But do we understand the danger posed by walls \u003ci\u003ethemselves\u003c\/i\u003e?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e East Germans were the first to give the crisis a name: \u003ci\u003eMauerkrankheit,\u003c\/i\u003e or “wall disease.” The afflicted—everyday citizens living on both sides of the Berlin wall—displayed some combination of depression, anxiety, excitability, suicidal ideation, and paranoia. The Berlin Wall is no more, but today there are at least seventy policed borders like it. What are they doing to our minds?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Jessica Wapner investigates, following a trail of psychological harm around the world. In Brownsville, Texas, the hotly contested US-Mexico border wall instills more feelings of fear than of safety. And in eastern Europe, a Georgian grandfather pines for his homeland—cut off from his daughters, his baker, and his bank by the arbitrary path of a razor-wire fence built in 2013. Even in borderlands riven by conflict, the same walls that once offered relief become enduring reminders of trauma and helplessness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Our brains, Wapner writes, devote “border cells” to where we can and cannot go safely—so, a wall that goes up in our town also goes up in our minds. Weaving together interviews with those living up against walls and expert testimonies from geographers, scientists, psychologists, and other specialists, she explores the growing epidemic of wall disease—and illuminates how neither those “outside” nor “inside” are immune.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e2020 \u003ci\u003eForeword\u003c\/i\u003e INDIES Finalist\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Compelling.”\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Nature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “An important contribution that raises public awareness about the potential harm caused by border walls.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eScience\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e“Wall Disease\u003c\/i\u003e is a sobering and stunning read at a time when countries all around the world are building fences.”—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eReinventing Home\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “\u003ci\u003eWall Disease \u003c\/i\u003ecompletely reframes our conversations about what a border should look like. Jessica Wapner spells out the intense psychological toll of border walls—the emotional destruction they wreak on individuals around the world. This is required reading for political leaders and invested citizens alike.”\u003cb\u003e—DW Gibson,\u003c\/b\u003e author of \u003ci\u003e14 Miles: Building the Border Wall\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Walls separate us. They also, Jessica Wapner shows, mess us up in less visible ways. This revelatory book is a reminder of how bizarre our walled-off world is—and how much we have to gain by tearing these walls down.”\u003cb\u003e—Daniel Immerwahr, \u003c\/b\u003eauthor of \u003ci\u003eHow to Hide an Empire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “How would you like to live next to a border wall?  How would you like to be stuck on the wrong side of one?  In \u003ci\u003eWall Disease\u003c\/i\u003e, Jessica Wapner tells the tales of people on both sides of the border who answer these questions from bitter personal experience—and tells these tales with compassion and eloquence.”\u003cb\u003e—Bryan Caplan,\u003c\/b\u003e author of \u003ci\u003eOpen Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781615197347\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"The Experiment","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40876407816398,"sku":"9781615197347","price":12.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/O_6f1a735b-5b9d-45a1-bed7-ec5df0ba733b.jpg?v=1644399085","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781615197347","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}