Desierto

The acclaimed author of Blue Desert explores life on the arid borderlands of southern Arizona in this “compelling and wonderfully poetic” essay collection (Ron Hansen, New York Times Book Review).

In Desierto, Charles Bowden brings his signature eye for vivid detail and penetrating insight to the Sonoran Desert. Travelling across this unforgiving terrain, he explores struggling desert villages, bitter Indian feuds, and a rich history that transcends borders. He profiles notorious predators from mountain lions to drug lords and land barons. Through it all, Bowden offers prescient visions of a future in which the region’s age-old dramas replay themselves long into the future.

“In these powerful epic tales of the Sonora Desert, Bowden peoples the harsh land on both sides of the US-Mexican border with saints and sinners, but his enduring hero is the desert itself.” —Kirkus Reviews