El Paso

Praise for El Paso:

“A compelling chronicle of the city… Ulloa is a terrific storyteller, and as she explores her hometown, she breathes life into dusty names from its past… The fine book she has written about her home is an important contribution to understanding a fascinating, complicated, vibrant, richly diverse city.”—New York Times Book Review

“The book is a powerful, sensitive, and timely dispatch.” —Boston Globe

“In her beautifully woven history of El Paso, Ulloa… A journalist with deep roots in El Paso… weaves together the history of the southwest U.S.-Mexican border with the stories of five families, including her own.” —Foreign Affairs Magazine

“Ulloa…skillfully deploys a lyrical literary voice, portrays El Paso as an emblem of Texan and American imminence. This book—her first and, one trusts, not her last—can be read as a deeply moving record of our fitful attempts to become a state and a nation that welcome people from all over the world.”—Texas Monthly

“In the ebbing and flowing narrative of immigration battles and families trying to find their place in the world, the author guides us, expertly, through history, politics, and personal stories, ending with her own family’s origin story. … A passionate and urgent account that transforms the embers of a bypassed history into flames that consume the present.” —Kirkus (starred review)

“The last two centuries in the legendary border town of El Paso, Texas, and its rich diversity are vividly brought to life in this detailed, engaging history. . . . With great storytelling, Ulloa weaves ordinary people into historical settings (including members of her own family), creating nuanced context. . . . Ulloa’s passionate reporting shows El Paso from a fresh perspective.” —ALA Booklist (starred review)

“What if El Paso was accorded the same place in American history as Ellis Island? This brilliantly told book makes a persuasive claim that El Paso belongs in the center of the American narrative.” —Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Human Scale

“Jazmine Ulloa’s stunning book is at its core an origin story, one filled with tales of revolution, uprising, displacement, rioting, rampage, and mass migration. In the five families portrayed here their yearning to be heard and understood is surpassed only by the sense of hope and the reimagining that comes from living between two countries and cultures. El Paso will amaze you with what it reveals about this iconic border city that has been both in plain sight and never truly seen until now.”—Oscar Cásares, author of Where We Come From

“El Paso is the magical and tragic crossroads at the center of North America. And in Jazmine Ulloa’s beautiful and impactful storytelling, we see it evolve from a frontier town to a fraught urban center, its streets and alleys the setting of epic historical encounters and culture-defining social movements. At last, that great border city in the desert has the book it deserves.” —Héctor Tobar, author of Deep Down Dark and Our Migrant Souls

“A richly-told, eye-opening book that offers truths that all of us should know, about immigration, the border, and ourselves. Brilliantly reported and full of people you will never forget, this is the real story of America.” —Beth Macy, author of Dopesick and Paper Girl