"Opportunity for all, openness, freedom--for the past century, those three values have been America's gift to the world. In this penetrating, impeccably researched, and devastating book, Edward Alden shows how America sacrificed each one after 9/11, in a bid for security that has yielded far less than it has cost. This is a superb case study of how the conduct of policy can drift depressingly far from the worthy intentions that gave rise to it." - Edward Carr, The Economist "Compellingly argued and meticulously researched. The Closing of the American Border tells heart-rending stories of immigrants who have lived for years in the U.S. and yet fall foul to the system. This is not the price you pay to win the war on terror.

It is how you lose it." - Clive Crook, The Financial Times "Alden's book reads like a case study in good intentions and bad effects." - The Wall Street Journal "Compellingly argued and meticulously researched." - Clive Crook, The Financial Times "A thought-provoking study that will leave you looking at our borders in a new light." - The San Antonio Express-News "In this revealing and richly researched account, Alden describes how the Bush administration came to rely on the blunt instrument of immigration enforcement to carry out its counterterrorism strategy after 9/11." - Julia Preston, Foreign Affairs "This is an outstanding and important book--well written, vividly detailed, and completely convincing. I've been waiting for the writer who would put together the full picture of what America did to itself in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks--how it changed from the country that attracted the world's talent to the country that detains, deports, and discourages talented foreigners who have no conceivable connection to any terrorist threat. Edward Alden now tells exactly that tale, and if enough people read it, it should change the way Americans talk and think about this issue.

" - James Fallows, author of Blind Into Baghdad.