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Original Essays | December 12, 2009

Alexander McCall Smith: IMG The Courage of Others



I have recently written a novel about life in England during the Second World War. I felt some concern before I tackled this theme — the War... Continue »
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    La's Orchestra Saves the World

    Alexander McCall Smith

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2 Burnside Ethnic Studies- Featured Titles

The Devil's Highway: A True Story

by Luis Alberto Urrea

The Devil's Highway: A True Story Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

"In May 2001, a group of men attempted to cross the border into the desert of southern Arizona, through the deadliest region of the continent, a place called the Devil's Highway. Fathers and sons, brothers and strangers, entered a desert so harsh and desolate that even the Border Patrol is afraid to travel through it. Twelve came back out."

Now, Luis Alberto Urrea tells the story of this modern odyssey. He takes us back to the small towns and unpaved cities south of the border, where the poor fall prey to dreams of a better life and the sinister promises of smugglers. We meet the men who will decide to make the crossing along the Devil's Highway and, on the other side of the border, the men who are ready to prevent them from reaching their destination. Urrea reveals exactly what happened when the twenty-six headed into the wasteland, and how they were brutally betrayed by the one man they had trusted most. And from that betrayal came the inferno, a descent into a world of cactus spines, labyrinths of sand, mountains shaped like the teeth of a shark, and a screaming sun so intense that even at midnight the temperature only drops to 97 degrees. And yet, the men would not give up. The Devil's Highway is a story of astonishing courage and strength, of an epic battle against circumstance. These twenty-six men would look the Devil in the eyes — and some of them would not blink.

Review:

"Superb....Nothing less than a saga on the scale of the Exodus and an ordeal as heartbreaking as the Passion....The book comes vividly alive with a richness of language and a mastery of narrative detail that only the most gifted of writers are able to achieve." Los Angeles Times Book Review

Review:

"The book's rare power is that it is both epic in scope — a trek through the wilderness in search of 'the promised land' — and intensely personal." Boston Globe

Product Details

ISBN:
9780316010801
Subtitle:
A True Story
Author:
Urrea, Luis Alberto
Publisher:
Back Bay Books
Subject:
Emigration and immigration
Subject:
Mexico
Subject:
Emigration & Immigration
Subject:
Government - U.S. Government
Subject:
United States Emigration and immigration.
Subject:
Human smuggling - Mexican-
Publication Date:
September 2005
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
239
Dimensions:
8.18x5.56x.81 in. .57 lbs.

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