Customer Reviews (1)

Taste a little of Abbey's anarchy stew!
He's been dubbed 'The Desert Anarchist', but Edward Abbey (1927-1989) cut a much wider swath than just the western deserts of the U.S. -- he managed to offend government lizards and do-gooder do-nothing elitist-naturalists all over the planet! He really did have the shrewdest answer for the preservation of our American deserts: "Stay home -- don't go there!"

Abbey worked as a fire-spotter in the National Parks and Forests and managed to hustle some of the lady rangers in the old fire tower while he worked. He also liked to commune with the indigenes of small western town taverns, where he was typically a fish out of water but still managed to not get killed. They broke the mold after they made Edward Abbey.

This work is a compendium of Abbey's writings (he would probably say 'scrawlings'), ergo the title, "Slumgullion Stew" which, at my house anyway, is a little of this and a little of that, all put into one pot. I rarely read compendiums but I just wanted to broaden my horizons a bit on Abbey, having heard an audiotape of mostly his 'desert stuff', which was really fun but thought-provoking too. The man was no apologist for anyone and, frankly (based on my own expertise as a life-long outdoorsman and conservation officer), he's right on darn near everything concerning people and their relationship, good and bad, with the planetary environment. These tales, some long, some short, are all lifted from Abbey's previously published works. This assemblage is primarily non-fiction.

The book covers people, politics, and nature from California to North Carolina to Europe, and from New York to southern Mexico to Australia, all anecdotally. Abbey's prose is a sort of rambling, Tom Bodette style and the reader quickly inserts himself or herself into his mesmerizing paradigms. The man clearly had no ego whatever, (he obliquely publicly confesses to mastubation, a huge Freudian hurdle for any macho guy! "I comitted adultry with my fist."), and he was never afraid to nailfactions like the Sierra Club when they were bulging with nasty methane gas. And when it came to the government and their appurtenent scoundrels, he really took off the gloves.

So, in here, you'll read about 'Old Mooneye', a renegade horse gone wild; Death Valley; poverty and squalor in Mexico; the real value of water (sometimes much higher than gold or diamonds!); nuclear noxiousness; cattle round-ups in Australia; Nazi love competitors; a demented Appalachian baseball team; and much more. It's all really a lot of tongue-in-cheek fun, but there's a lot of subtle but great philosophy in here too: "Truth is the enemy of power."

One tip to reading "Slumgullion Stew": skip the very first story, read the rest of the book, and THEN come back and read the two-page "Jonathan Troy" excerpt. It's just like Abbey to put his most complex, coherently difficult prose right up front to make people think that they got screwed on the price of a book -- typical Abbey self-gratifying humor, really.

This is the book that you can read off-and-on and still get it (the message)... so get it! ... Read more

Book Description
For the first time in softcover, Edward Abbey's last book, a collection of unforgettable barbs of wisdom from the best-selling author of The Monkey Wrench Gang.Notes from a Secret JournalEdward Abbey on:Government"Terrorism: deadly violence against humans and other living things, usually conducted by a government against its own people."Sex"How to Avoid Pleurisy: Never make love to a girl named Candy on the tailgate of a half-ton Ford pickup during a chill rain in April out of Grandview Point in San Juan County, Utah."New York City"New Yorkers like to boast that if you can survive in New York, you can survive anywhere. But if you can survive anywhere, why live in New York?"Literature"Henry James. Our finest lady novelist." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Bumpersticker Abbey!!
A great service was provided Edward Abbey fans with the publication of this marvelous little tome. Now we anarchists have a handy source of short bits by Abbey to plaster on our webpages, our mail, and even our car bumpers! Up with nature, down with Empire!

4.5 is closer to it.
This is not Abbey's grand work nor was it intended to be.This is a small collection of one-liners and pithy observations of a highly talented, self-admitted misanthrope."Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell" is a prime example.

Abbey was a truck riding good ole boy and was about as politically correct as a punch to the head.His backpack was not designed by Gucci and his boots were mostly army surplus but he spent a life time outdoors, not behind a desk finding fault.His writings, his actions and his public appearances brought more awareness of nature and its plight to the public than did the combined number of his critics by a factor of 1000.

Borne just before the depression, he did not see all wild game as Bambi or Thumper but, as a child, watched as his father hunted for the table. Abbey may not be for everyone, but, by the same token, neither is Mr. Rogers.

If you have read a lot of Abbey this is a great book.
If you have read only a few of Abbey's books these quotes might not mean anything to you.This is not a story but is just a collection of quotes.Although he likes to make broad generalizations like 'all rebels are good' that is part of what makes Abbey so endearing.He doesn't sugar coat his opinions.I may not agree with all he says but I do respect him for at least putting it out there and not backing down.It also gives a lot of insight into his writing and reveals some specfics that you would have to read every book of his carefully in order to understand. It does make for a great reference and is interesting to see him contradict himself.You could very easily write 'Down the River with Abbey' by using this book and it would have much the same feel as his book concerning Thoreau. A great book for just thumbing through or reading out load to friends on a long car trip.

Skip it!
Edward Abbey is quite possibly the most overrated author of the 20th Century.For proof, look no further then this little book of pseudo-wisdom.You'll have the pleasure of watching as Ed spouts tiresomeuntruths (all government is bad, all science is bad, all rebels are good,etc.) with the petulant attitude that he is the very first person inhistory to say them all, and that it makes him great.Environmentalistswho think that Abbey was some kind of hero might be shocked by the elitistarrogance of this "man of the people" (he thanks nuclearphysicists for inventing the atomic bomb) or by right-wing moronics worthyof the most brainless militiaman ("the rifle and handgun are'equalizers'--the weapons of a democracy"). Abbey even puts the s-wordin print and brags about it as if he were the first person on the planet todo it.If you are an environmentalist (like me) and you want inspiration,read Emerson, read John Muir, even read Wendell Berry--but skip EdwardAbbey.

Vox et Abbey!Fantastic little book!
After Ed's passing, there were many holes, despite the prolific nature of the self proclaimed bastard.This small book offers a wonderful insight into the man behind the Monkey Wrench.Through his journals, poems and other unpublished work, another ray of desert sunlight falls upon Ed's hulking form.We miss you Abbey, but this eases the emptiness a little ... Read more

Amazon.com
Few have cared more about American wilderness than the irascible Cactus Ed. Author of eco-classics such as The Monkey Wrench Gangand Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey revealsall his rough-hewn edges and passionate beliefs in this witty, outspoken, maddening, and sometimesbrilliant selection of journal entries that takes the writer from his early years as a park ranger and would-beliterary author up to his death in 1989. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

A monkeywrench of his own
A caricaturistic version of Edward Abbey is a familiar figure in the pantheon of environmentalism. His best work, DESERT SOLITAIRE (Ballantine Books, 1985)), and perhaps best known work, THE MONKEY-WRENCH GANG (Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006), inspired a generation of wilderness seekers and iconoclasts, spun off EarthFirst! and other direct-action environmental groups, and offered up a larger than life anti-hero, successful inspite of himself.The Abbey visible in his personal journals couldn't help but be far more complex, and these thoughtfully selected excerpts offer a daunting portrait. On the one hand the writer was a graduate in philosophy and passionate afficianado of classical music, powerfully drawn to the academy, a Fulbright scholar and sometime professor. On the other he was rebellious, prickly and explosive in social situations (four stormy marriages interlaced with innumerable affairs and dalliances), utterly dismissive of the eastern literary establishment ... and in perpetualanguish during the long years that the eastern literati ignored him. He was utterly devastated by the leukemia death of one wife -- thrown into a year-long depression -- despite the fact that they were separated and headed for divorce when the disease struck. He was often fearless, and yet abandoned her bedside in the last days, unable to face her suffering.Let's say he was a very conflicted individual. His most singular failure, in my view, was to rail against population growth and immigration (because it eased population pressure elsewhere), while fathering five children. (Hello? Ed? Did you skip sex-ed while you were studying Kant? There is a cause and effect thing going on here you seem to have missed.)This follows easily on the heels of his broader failure as a purported egalitarian/anarchist -- his unrelenting sexism: women seen as decoration, child care providers and sexual conquests. (It appears that his shaky self-esteem was salved by the attention of successively younger women -- not an unusual phenomenon, particularlyamong the celebrity set.) That said, his successes were powerful as well: a passion for wilderness, a dedication to his vision of an earth saved from total development and despoliation -- expressed in fiction and non-fiction -- with a wit and descriptive power that has underlain much of the success of late 20th century preservation and protection.It is hard to envision a more honest autobiography than a personal journal, and hardly common that such a record is maintained over so many years (from 1946 until twelve days before his death in 1989, though the early volumes were destroyed in a flood), and then made public. This is a revealing look at a singular and influential figure in our recent history.Cactus Ed, you were one hell of a piece of work.

Barbarian he is not
Confessions of a Barbarian is an inside look at the philosophy and ideas of one man. It also is a deep read into his ideas about women, love and lost relationships. The journals are well written and full of thought out prose, plays on words. It is excellent for any writer to read. Abbey uses many word plays and word games throughout the journals. He also philosophizes on life in general as well as his travels throughout his life. It was extremely interesting and well written.

The closest thing to an Abbey autobiography
This book is a nicely edited version of Ed Abbey's journals, and, as an Abbey fan, I found it very illuminating.Here we get to see Abbey as he sees himself instead of the Abbey the we see through his books.The men went through a lot and put himself through a lot, and it is very amazing to watch him mature through his writing from his early twenties until the weeks before his death at the age of 62.Highly recommended for anyone who wants to know more about how Abbey experienced his own life and writing in contrast to the persona developed as the cult hero of the Monkey Wrench Gang and Desert Solitaire.

He wrote too much fiction and not enough journalism
I thrustfully agree with the previous critics who begrudge Abbey for his pathetic sex-obsession. And it's pretty dispiriting to watch Abbey degenerating into a grumpy old man. But there's great stuff in here, page after page.

ED SAID: "I hate the rich and powerful, and those who support *them* while not *of* them---servile and sycophantic natures: the servants, lackeys, court jesters. They I despise more than any other."

ED SAID: "Judy---her death. Just too goddamned cruel and unjust and absurd and unnecessary to be borne. As Bobby Kennedy used to say (and how sweet *his* memory now seems), this is 'unacceptable'. (Oblivion. Annihilation. Nothingness.)"

ED SAID: "Inbreeding. My Gawd, even the country-western singers are singing songs about country-western songs. Just like the highbrow literati, writing their novels about writing novels."

ED SAID: "There *must* be a Gawd; the world could not have gotten so f*cked-up by chance alone."

Don't Waste Your Money
This is the most self-absorbed author I have ever read. Perhaps this was not a good book to begin with, having never read any of his others. He is endlessly amused at his own wit, endlessly fascinated with his own horniness. His women are a sad parade of vaginas; world-shaking events reduced to how they will affect his own narrow, hedonistic world. The sad part is that I agree with many of his opinions on religion, the environment, business, etc. Unfortunately, his "look, Ma, I'm writing!" style of expression gets quite tedious. This is pseudo-intellectual, verbal vomit...don't waste your money like I did. (Sorry, Abbey-lovers) ... Read more

Book Description
Rarely does an author so thoroughly entertain and anger his readers as Edward Abbey does. This book focuses on Abbey's aesthetic and philosophy of paradox as they are reflected in his writings, and explores his literary technique of blurring traditional genres regarding fiction and nonfiction. Until now, no study has sufficiently treated the full complexity of Abbey's writing throughout his career—making this particular work not only original, but important. ... Read more

Book Description
The New West of Edward Abbey is the first book-length study assessing the literary career of this major contemporary American author. In her perceptive examination, Ann Ronald asserts that Edward Abbey's role as social commentator and environmental activist is complemented by his guise as a writer of romance--one who reconceives the contemporary world in order to envision a better one. In examining the philosophy behind Abbey's prose, Ronald contends that Abbey's approach is subtle as well as vociferous in calling for a properly managed society that can exist in equilibrium with the bulldozers of the modern-day world. In a new chapter, Ronald celebrates Abbey's legacy of prose and the authored persona with which he charmed his readers and recalls her own pleasures as a reader of his work.In his new afterword, Scott Slovic offers an assessment of Abbey's later works, including Hayduke Lives!, A Fool's Progress, Earth Apples, and journal selections published posthumously as Confessions of a Barbarian. The first edition of The New West of Edward Abbey helped draw the attention of an entire generation of students, teachers, and literary scholars to Abbey's achievement as a writer. The new edition will once again serve as a central resource for anyone studying Abbey. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

.."A Clean Hard Edge Divides..."
Valuable asset for adherents to late David Brower's promise to restore Glen Canyon as wild river. Read Scott Slovic's 21 page afterword...& understand that Glen canyon Dam may soon be by-passed,standing, as a concrete artfiact to man's defamation of nature. (See Cadillac Desert, late author-Reisner) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Wow!I've read all of Abbey's books or I thought I did.
Listening to Ed Abbey read selections from Desert Solitaire, The Journey Home, Abbey's Road, and Down the River puts his writings in a whole new perspective.I found myself going back and rereading these selections after listening to the tapes.It is as though I never really read them in the first place.Highly recommended if you can find a copy.Don't understand why they are so hard to find.From the back cover, "Vintage Abbey.If I could have only one Abbey work on a desert island, I might choose this."

Freedom and Wilderness
A MUST Abbey "listen."Hear Cactus Ed himself.If you love wilderness and need a little jolt of Abbeyism, this is it.I use it as a class assignment, not only for its literary quality but for its passion for wild places.American Wilderness:Love it or leave it alone.

get it if you can
a remarkable collection, and worth every penny (...) i paid for them new. ed's voice never gets tiresome, especially reading some of his own best works.

Excellent Tape, if you can find it
Here is a wonderful collection of some of Abbey's best essays narrated by the old curmudgeon himself. ... Read more