The Devil's Highway

"As I started the work, I will confess, it was all about the good men who died [...]. But it didn't take long to see the story was really about all humans - all of us in those ancient deserts are lost wanderers. All of us are walking in an alien landscape in those indigenous homelands" (Urrea). 

The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea

In 2001, 26 men attempted to illegally immigrate into the United States through a deadly area in southern Arizona called "The Devil's Highway." Shortly into their journey, the men became desperately lost, although their guide kept this fact hidden from the rest of the men for dozens of miles. After a 50-mile trek through the desert with only enough water to last for one to two days, 12 of the 26 men survived. This book vividly details the harrowing journey of these men through the unforgiving desert. The men in this group faced overwhelming heat, thirst, and exhaustion in their desperate effort to survive. By examining their story, Urrea uncovers the circumstances that led to those and hundreds of other deaths on the border. This book explores every facet of illegal immigration - social, political, moral, and economic - that continue to be deeply relevant today.