The Devil’s Highway

The 2004 book “The Devil’s Highway,” brought Luis Urrea unprecedented attention. The book describes the economic pressures and ambitions that inspire 26 Mexican men to make a dangerous crossing in the desert. He describes, in excruciating detail, the suffering and the deaths they experience when they lose their way. He painstakingly explains the daily tasks of the Border Patrol agents who track down, arrest and, on occasion, save the lives of the immigrants who make their way across the desert. In one nervy passage, he tells his story from the point of view of the 14 cadavers being driven to the Tucson medical examiner’s labs.  Click here to read an article on Urrea and his work.

KJ