This book is grounded in an extended analogy between the 19th century story of the Underground Railroad in North America, transporting fugitive slaves to safety in the North, and the 21st century routes and trails of migrant passages to and within Europe. It begins as a kind of historical travelogue tracing the remnants of the 19th-century Underground Railroad in the US and Canada, including its legacies and unfulfilled heritage. It then shifts to the political present by ethnographically sketching a series of different border instances and situations, both external and within the EU space (Ventimiglia, Athens, Paris, Calais, Ceuta and Melilla, Patras, Pozzallo). Focusing on the violent harshening of local border regimes, this book nonetheless suggests a different picture, one conceived as the dynamic effect of both migrants autonomy and of the solidarity provided by local and international groups. Focusing on these specific and contested situations, it is possible to reverse the image of a main borderland into one of a space crisscrossed by many routes and passages. Reading those experiences through the historical lens of the US antebellum Underground Railroad, the book suggests the idea of an analogous "Underground Europe".

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.