The Devil's Highway: A True Story

Luis Alberto Urrea

Nov 2008 · Sold by Back Bay Books

About this ebook

This important book from a Pulitzer Prize finalist follows the brutal journey a group of men take to cross the Mexican border: "the single most compelling, lucid, and lyrical contemporary account of the absurdity of U.S. border policy" (The Atlantic).

In May 2001, a group of men attempted to cross the Mexican border into the desert of southern Arizona, through the deadliest region of the continent, the "Devil's Highway." Three years later, Luis Alberto Urrea wrote about what happened to them. The result was a national bestseller, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a "book of the year" in multiple newspapers, and a work proclaimed as a modern American classic.

Ratings and reviews

I lived in Yuma when this happened. I distinctly remember seeing the commotion of news vans at the hospital. This book is a heart wrenching look at the last hours of these immigrants, and the inhumane situations they find themselves in, in pursuit of a better life. Urrea gives these immigrants a name, and makes them human, in a time when so many Americans demonize them. Such a great read. Very hard to stomach in some areas, but such an eye opener, and lends a voice to these people and their trials.

Definitely a very sad but true story of what thousands of immigrants go thru every day just to make a better living for themselves..great book.

True story of the dangers of crossing the border and the coyotes that smuggle.

About the author

A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his landmark work of nonficiton The Devil's Highway, Luis Alberto Urrea is also the bestselling author of the novels The Hummingbird's Daughter, Into the Beautiful North, and Queen of America, as well as the story collection The Water Museum, a PEN/Faulkner Award finalist.

He has won the Lannan Literary Award, an Edgar Award, and a 2017 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, among many other honors. Born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and American mother, he lives outside of Chicago and teaches at the University of Illinois-Chicago.