The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 17 February 1998
by Edward Abbey
In his own way, Edward Abbey follows in the footsteps of Thoreau with this story condensed from a series of three summers in the Arches National Monument. His tale is more brutal, though, with a masculine imperitive that he participate in the amoral brutality of nature. Some episodes seem positively wasteful and paradoxical taken in the light of his proposals for saving what's left of our wilderness lands. Still, Abbey has an uncompromising love for the beautiful desert land, land that even today is under threat from mineral and oil interests, as the departing Bush administration put the West up for lease and exploitation. Abbey's detailed descriptions of his remote hikes reveal his passion for the wilderness in entertaining and beautiful stories. The author, himself, notes the paradox between his love for nature and his dependence on civilization in touching asides. The book was written in the mid 1960s, just as grassroots environmental action was booming, so Abbey does not forsee what preservation advances were to be made in the 70s. Some of his more depressing predictions have indeed come to pass, as well as other disasters he did not forsee. In its determination, though, this is an encouraging and galvanizing book.
Also by Abbey: [The Fool's Progress] [Good News]