This invigoratingly written?and evocatively titled?narrative invites readers on an eye-opening tour of the American Southwest and across the border into Mexico. Note: Readers looking for the Southwest that begins and ends with kerchief-wearing coyotes, Georgia O?Keeffe skulls, and adobe-inflected decor would do well to look elsewhere. This extraordinary book offers something else entirely, leading us deep inside the uniqueness of the region and reflecting on the mounting tension between its eroding physical splendor and the diverse inhabitants who crisscross its bleached deserts, cracked pavement?and eighteen-hole golf courses. Exploring such central themes as ?tierra,? ?art,? ?violence,? and ?food, religion, and politics,? celebrated author Tom Miller?s prose is at once optimistic, vigilant, amiable, and penetrating. From Bisbee, Arizona, America?s only town with a maximum wage, to Northern Mexico?s Pinacate volcanic fields, which ?resemble how the Earth must have looked before man evolved and how it will look again when no one remains;? from an investigation of the curious chimichanga and the origins of ?La Bamba? to a poignant tour of the Southwest?s painful continuing legacy of illegal immigration, Jack Ruby?s Kitchen Sink takes you on an engaging and compelling adventure into a part of the world we thought we knew. Read Less