The Coyote's Bicycle by Kimball Taylor
For readers of Jon Krakauer and Susan Orlean, The Coyote's Bicycle brings to life a never-before-told phenomenon at our southern border, and the human drama of those that would cross.
- Sale Date
- ISBN
- 9781941040201
- Page Count
- 380
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 5¾ x 8¾
- Imprint
- Tin House
Meet the Author
Kimball Taylor
For readers of Jon Krakauer and Susan Orlean, The Coyote's Bicycle brings to life a never-before-told phenomenon at our southern border, and the human drama of those that would cross.
It wasn’t surprising when the first abandoned bicycles were found along the dirt roads and farmland just across the border from Tijuana, but before long they were arriving in droves. The bikes went from curiosity, to nuisance, to phenomenon. But until they caught the eye of journalist Kimball Taylor, only a small cadre of human smugglers—coyotes—and migrants could say how or why they’d gotten there. And only through Taylor’s obsession did another curious migratory pattern emerge: the bicycles’ movement through the black market, Hollywood, the prison system, and the military-industrial complex.
This is the story of 7,000 bikes that made an incredible journey and one young man from Oaxaca who arrived at the border with nothing, built a small empire, and then vanished. Taylor follows the trail of the border bikes through some of society’s most powerful institutions, and, with the help of an unlikely source, he reconstructs the rise of one of Tijuana’s most innovative coyotes. Touching on immigration and globalization, as well as the history of the US/Mexico border,The Coyote’s Bicycle is at once an immersive investigation of an outrageous occurrence and a true-crime, rags-to-riches story.
It wasn’t surprising when the first abandoned bicycles were found along the dirt roads and farmland just across the border from Tijuana, but before long they were arriving in droves. The bikes went from curiosity, to nuisance, to phenomenon. But until they caught the eye of journalist Kimball Taylor, only a small cadre of human smugglers—coyotes—and migrants could say how or why they’d gotten there. And only through Taylor’s obsession did another curious migratory pattern emerge: the bicycles’ movement through the black market, Hollywood, the prison system, and the military-industrial complex.
This is the story of 7,000 bikes that made an incredible journey and one young man from Oaxaca who arrived at the border with nothing, built a small empire, and then vanished. Taylor follows the trail of the border bikes through some of society’s most powerful institutions, and, with the help of an unlikely source, he reconstructs the rise of one of Tijuana’s most innovative coyotes. Touching on immigration and globalization, as well as the history of the US/Mexico border,The Coyote’s Bicycle is at once an immersive investigation of an outrageous occurrence and a true-crime, rags-to-riches story.
Praise for The Coyote's Bicycle
-
“Just when you think you know every border story imaginable, Kimball Taylor shows up with this book of madness. It's an audacious tale told with great elan. I loved everything about this story—mostly because it's true. Can one bicycle change the world? Maybe not, but Kimball Taylor knows with love, no border is impermeable.”
Luis Alberto Urrea, author of THE DEVIL'S HIGHWAY: A True Story -
“Journalist Taylor deftly guides readers over la frontera and back again, many times, to unravel the story behind the thousands of bikes of all shapes and sized abandoned over the years along the Mexican-U.S. border . . . . a place that''s as complex as it is enchanting.”
Publishers Weekly -
“Kimball Taylor brings us along on a deeply researched and richly detailed journey to our southern border, and in the process enlightened me with every turn of the page. The Coyote's Bicycle is not unlike a swift downhill mountain bike ride through no-man's land.”
Eric Blehm, New York Times Best Selling Author of Legend, Fearless, and The Only Thing Worth Dying For
About the Imprint
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