UCDavis 2007-2008 Campus Community Book Project

A National Bestseller

      In this work of grave beauty and searing power, one of the most widely praised pieces of investigative reporting to appear in recent years, we follow 26 men who in May 2001 attempted to cross the Mexican border into the desert of southern Arizona, through the deadly region known as the Devil's Highway, a desert so harsh and desolate that even the Border Patrol is afraid to travel through it, a place that for hundreds of years has stolen mens souls and swallowed their blood. Only 12 of the men made it out.

Luis Alberto Urrea

      Luis Alberto Urrea, 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction and member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame, is a prolific and acclaimed writer who uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore greater themes of love, loss and triumph.

      Born in Tijuana, Mexico to a Mexican father and an American mother, Urrea has published extensively in all the major genres and is currently published by Little, Brown and Company. The critically acclaimed author of 11 books, Urrea is an award-winning poet and essayist. The Devil's Highway, his 2004 non-fiction account of a group of Mexican immigrants lost in the Arizona desert, won the 2004 Lannan Literary Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Pacific Rim Kiriyama Prize. A national best-seller, The Devil's Highway was also named a best book of the year by the Los Angeles Times, the Miami Herald, the Chicago Tribune, the Kansas City Star and many other publications.

More Information

Click here to download a brochure (PDF) with event times and information.

Author Visit

      Streaming video of Luis Alberto Urrea's visit to the UC Davis campus, including the November 27th writing workshop and the November 28th Mondavi talk as well as the panel that followed are all available by clicking on "Teaching" in the menu above or by clicking here.

Interact

      Learn more about the experience described in the book with an interactive map, created by Derek Hunziker and Nathan Couch in Glenda Egan Drew's Design class. Also, read an article written about the map in the California Aggie.

External Link

Book Project

      Now in its sixth year, The Campus Community Book Project (CCBP) was initiated after September 11th to promote dialogue and build community by encouraging diverse members of the campus community to read the same book and attend related events.

      The book project advances the Office of Campus Community Relations’ mission to improve both the campus climate and campus community relations, to increase diversity, and to promote equity and inclusiveness.

      More information about past, present and future book projects and other OCCR initiatives is available on their web site