The Devil's Highway

Author: Luis Alberto Urrea
Publisher: 2005, Back Bay Books, ISBN   978-0316010801
Lexile Measure: Unavailable
Classification: Non-fiction

Summary:
Luis Alberto Urrea’s gritty non-fiction work tells the story of an attempted May 2001 illegal crossing through the Arizona desert from Mexico to the United States. Of the twenty-six men who began the trek, only twelve survived.  The book discusses that incident as well as greater issues of Mexican immigration to the United States.

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Language:
Curse words, used in context, include:

• d*mn
  
• h*ll
  
• sh*t
  
• p*ss
  
• f*ck
  
• *ss
  
• cr*p
  
• b*stard
  
• c*ck
  
• *sshole
  
• p*ssy
  

The book also contains racial slurs such as “DWM” which means “Driving While Mexican” in the lexicon of some Border Patrol agents (p. 69).

Drug and Alcohol Use:
There are passing references to drinking beer, smoking, and smoking pot.

Violence and Crime:
The book is about illegal immigration, so you can fairly say that every page contains references to that crime.

• The book also contains numerous, very vivid descriptions of ways to die while crossing. Chapter 9, entitled “Killed by the Light” describes the various stages of heat stress and is particularly vivid.  See, pp. 35, 95, 121-125, 166.
  
• The book refers to human trafficking and sex crimes as well as violent crimes Juarez including the work of a suspected serial killer, torture, executions, and organ harvesting (as well as the world’s seeming indifference).  See, for example pp. 207-208, 227-229.

Sexual Content:
Although the book contains little in the way of sexual content, there are a few references to “getting laid,” going to “nudie bars,” and looking at pornographic magazines, See, pp. 28, 87, 95, 154.

Other:

• The Devil’s Highway discusses Native American religious beliefs as well as Christian efforts to convert them.  See, for example, pp. 6-8, 11, 87.
  
• The Mexican and American approaches to immigration are addressed in Chapter 16, entitled, “Home.”

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