“Laredo has a book store?”

That message was recently posted on Facebook after the launch of a campaign to raise awareness that B.Dalton Bookseller decided to shut down its operations in the border town.

The closing would leave the city of almost 200,000 without a bookstore, mirroring a drain of local brains and talent; border communities often struggle to keep younger, educated residents when larger cities dangle economic and quality-of-life opportunities.

The bookstore example, some have argued, is one that accurately reflects why cities on the Texas-Mexican border are often afflicted with a reputation of being a black ...

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