\tEarly in the evening of November 25, 2006, George Bynum, the protagonist of Where Gringos Don’t Belong, leaves his Mexican novia Patricia among anti-government protest marchers in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico and returns to his apartment to finish a report for his employers, the Rural Development through Education Center. Before he can finish, his cell phone rings. “They’re attacking! Killing..! They won’t…stop!” Patricia’s voice rings in his ears. He rushes out, hoping to find her, but blinded by teargas from a federal police assault trips and has to be helped to safety. \tHe and several others, including a young woman named Claudi Auscher, make their way back to George’s apartment. Claudi, who defines herself as “a Mexican Jew gypsy bitch rebel” joins George in his efforts to reestablish contact with Patricia, who has been flown to a maximum security prison along with other innocent victims of the militarized purge. \tGeorge and Claudi are fictional characters but the events in which they’ve become embroiled are based on the actual political and social upheavals that reverberated through Oaxaca from November 2006 through April 2007. This integration of fictional characters with actual events which I witnessed and was involved with give the writing a veracity that will appeal both to readers of history and politics and to those who purchase and read quality contemporary fiction. The events described tighten the bonds forming between the two protagonists and their friends, particularly George’s coworker and his Oaxacan novia who considers Claudia her counselor and confidante, and among others victims of the brutal police purge and those attempting to help them. Although George has been thrust out of work by the Center’s closing, he and Claudia intervene between teenagers caught between the collapsing economy and emigrating illegally to the United States to carve an irrigation project in the destitute Mixteca in western Oaxaca. \tReleased after seven weeks of humiliating and degrading treatment by prison officials, Patricia flees to her parents’ home in Mexico City and finally breaks her refusal to communicate after Claudia confronts her. By e-mail she describes her rape by federal police while being conveyed to prison, thrusting Claudia—“I came to Oaxaca to do drugs!”—into an even more take-charge counseling and leadership role that includes setting up a non-profit foundation with funds donated by her wealthy brother, whose infidelities and questionable financial dealings Claudia threatens to expose. \tSparked by George’s and Claudi’s week-long visits the teenagers perform minor miracles with their irrigation projects (assisted by marijuana growers and a road construction crew charmed by one of their mothers). The project seems bound to flourish until Claudi responds to an old friend who is being pursued by federal authorities for narcotics violations. Her tragic death after speeding through a roadside checkpoint manned by Mexican soldiers drives George to seek revenge.