UI Press | Jeff Biggers | In the Sierra Madre

In the Sierra Madre

Awards and Recognition:

Winner of the Gold medal in the Travel Essays Category for the 2006 ForeWord Book of the Year Awards contest.

The history of Copper Canyon's treasure seekers and enigmatic natives

Based on a one-year sojourn in Copper Canyon, In the Sierra Madre offers a rare look at the ways of the Raramuri/Tarahumara, the most resilient indigenous culture in the Americas. Award-winning journalist Jeff Biggers blends personal observation with history to explore the exploits of Mexican mountaineers and the fascinating parade of argonauts and accidental travelers who have journeyed into the Sierra Madre over the centuries. He uncovers a varied and vast cast of characters ranging from African explorers and Confederate deserters to figures like Antonin Artaud, Henry Flipper, B. Traven, Sergei Eisenstein, George Patton, Geronimo, and Pancho Villa.

"An astonishing sojourn into a remote region."--Booklist

"In the Sierra Madre introduces us to a host of idiosyncratic customs, numerous unforgettable characters, and situations that only a traveler of this ilk could manage. Biggers is the quintessential observer, with the eye and voice of a poet."--San Antonio Express-News

"For those interested in living culture, this book offers a treasury of anecdotes of the clash and blend of old and new."--Guadalajara Reporter

“Half a century after the release of the film, Jeff Biggers brings home the true treasure of the Sierra Madre: its stories. Biggers weaves a tapestry of intertwined tales that sheds light on this little-known region. Warm-hearted and compassionate, these stories bring to life the Raramuri.” --Michael Shapiro, author of A Sense of Place: Great Travel Writers Talk about Their Craft, Lives, and Inspiration

“Once every generation a book comes along that captures the stunning terrain and hidden life of Mexico’s remote western Sierra Madre. In the Sierra Madre is that book for this generation. Jeff Biggers has seen the strange and remarkable that the rest of us can only imagine.”--Tom Miller, author of The Panama Hat Trail and On the Border

"Jeff Biggers has the keenest eye in the business, and he has a fine, luminous voice to tell you what he has seen. This is a welcome addition to western and Mexican letters. Biggers manages to write like a poet, a historian, a naturalist, and an adventurer. His pages are burnished and alive, and I admire his work. You need to read this one soon."--Luis Urrea, author of The Hummingbird's Daughter and The Devil's Highway

Jeff Biggers has worked as a writer, radio correspondent, and educator across the United States, Europe, Mexico, and India. Winner of the American Book Award, he is the author of The United States of Appalachia: How Southern Mountaineers Brought Independence, Culture, and Enlightenment to America.

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