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

Product Description
The New West of Edward Abbey is the first book-lengthstudy assessing the literary career of this major contemporaryAmerican author. In her perceptive examination, Ann Ronald assertsthat Edward Abbey's role as social commentator and environmentalactivist is complemented by his guise as a writer of romance--one whoreconceives the contemporary world in order to envision a betterone. In examining the philosophy behind Abbey's prose, Ronald contendsthat Abbey's approach is subtle as well as vociferous in calling for aproperly managed society that can exist in equilibrium with thebulldozers of the modern-day world. In a new chapter, Ronaldcelebrates Abbey's legacy of prose and the authored persona with whichhe charmed his readers and recalls her own pleasures as a reader ofhis work.In his new afterword, Scott Slovic offers an assessment ofAbbey's later works, including Hayduke Lives!, A Fool's Progress,Earth Apples, and journal selections published posthumously asConfessions of a Barbarian. The first edition of The New West ofEdward Abbey helped draw the attention of an entire generation ofstudents, teachers, and literary scholars to Abbey's achievement as awriter. The new edition will once again serve as a central resourcefor 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

Product Description
The photography of Eliot Porter captures the majestic beauty of the Appalachian wilderness. In the contrast, the harsh human history--the blighting force of today's industrial tourism, the sad fate of the Cherokee Indians, and the mountaineers--is sensitively recorded by Abbey. 45 color illustrations. 128 pages. Size D.48 color illus. 10 x 13 3/4. $37.50 value. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

AN UNUSUAL TREAT
A visually-delightful book put together by Ed Abbey and the amazing photographer Eliot Porter. Abbey's musings on Appalachia were often hilarious, but also quite sad at times as he talked about the land and how it's been ruined by us in so very many ways. His narrative takes tangents but mostly follows a visit he made to the Great Smokies over one winter in his later years. He travels up Clingman's Dome with his wife and daughter and reminisces on the land, the landscape, and the history of the area.

Porter's photographs are a treat. They're not necessarily eye-popping, but thoughtful, colorful images of Appalachian flora.

At any rate, I was attracted to the book by Abbey's writings, but Porter's photographs were a pleasant bonus.

A couple of masters produce a classic work
While Edward Abbey was one of my favorite writers and although he was born in the Appalachian area, he was identified with the Southwest and wrote marvelously about the desert country.Eliot Porter was one of my favorite nature photographers, also identified with the Southwest but also well known for his other works, particularly his pioneering photos of birds.Both masters produced this fine volume that is certainly worth having for both the essays and the photographs.

Both Abbey and Porter have produced other fine books.Porter worked with numerous writers and Abbey wrote essays for books with other great photographers.May I suggest "Slickrock" (with photographer Philip Hyde) and "Desert Images" (with photographer David Muench).Abbey is in his element with the essays in these books and both Hyde and Muench are master photographers.For Eliot Porter's works, his classics "In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World" (which really set the stage for his later projects) and "The Place No On Knew: Glen Canyon on the Colorado".Later Eliot works I consider outstanding include "Eliot Porter's Southwest" (which were early black and white photos), "Maine" and "The West".

Abbey died in 1989, Porter died in 1990.They were giants whose works deserve to live forever.

The Smoky Mountains, from both sides
Eliot Porter's beautiful photographs of wildflowers, trees, and mountain streams are an interesting juxtaposition to the often caustic prose of Edward Abbey, who writes the main body of the text, and Harry Caudill, whowrites the epilogue.This book is Abbey at his best, showing that he canwrite well about a landscape other than the American southwest.Hedescribes the landscape of the Southern Appalachians in their starkreality: the billboards and phony saloons of industrial tourism, theabandoned stores and churches, the paved roads catering to the rich andsedentary, the forsaken Cherokees.His story is a truthful andcompassionate account of the tragedies of the region, as well as a powerfulargument that capitalism has failed.This is not the place to start withAbbey--"Desert Solitaire" or "Abbey's Road" would be abetter choice--but for those who are already familiar with him, this bookwill not be a disappointment. ... Read more

Product Description
Beautiful Pictures color & black & white. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a little-known gem for your Edward Abbey collection!
Edward Abbey's death left a big hole in the latter part of the 20th century - a hole at least as big as an aluminum strip-mine in the middle of Montana.Imagine my surprise and delight several years later when i found an Abbey book that i hadn't already read - this one.

Published by Time-life and so, obviously, a work for hire, this volume still conveys all of Abbey's love of and reverence for his beloved Southwest, while not being quite as over-the-top Luddite as many of his other works. Combine this with photography that's up to the high standards of most Time-Life "coffee table" series, and you've got a winner.

(Collectors take note: first editions are identifiable by a small hourglass shape on the bottom right corner of the last page of the index. Also - the dust jacket for this book is pretty rare. Consider yourself lucky if you have one!) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Independence, ethics, nature, freedom, and adventure, all wrapped into one book!
Jack Burns is a cowboy on a mission.He wants to break his friend out of jail, a punishment doled out for failure to register for the draft.Burns gets himself thrown in jail, finds his friend, escapes, and leads the local sheriff and others on a chase.

But nothing in the previous three sentences is exactly as it sounds.Burns isn't just a cowboy.The sheriff isn't just a redneck buffoon.His friend has other ideas about jail.Escape has a price.

Edward Abbey develops the character of Jack Burns in great detail, and Burns returns in Abbey's later post-apocalypse novel, Good News.

This is Abbey's second novel, and you can envision the train of thoughts that lead to some of his later works, including Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang:

"The great cliffs leaned up against the flowing sky, falling through space as the earth revolved, turning amber as whiskey in the long-reaching lakes of light from the evening sun.But the light had no power to soften the jagged edges and rough-spalled planes of the granite; in that clear air each angle and crack cast a shadow as harsh, clean, sharp, real, as the rock itself - so that though they had endured as they were for ten million years, the cliffs held the illusion of a terrible violence suddenly arrested, paralyzed in time, latent with power" (p. 189).

This particular edition (University of New Mexico Press, tenth printing, 1990) has an afterward written by Neal E. Lambert.Lambert notes "For this new edition, Abbey requested that the lines announcing Burn's death be dropped.Broken as he is, the cowboy must be allowed to continue" (p. 285).This makes a lot of sense, given that Abbey himself resurrects Burns for his later works.

An entertaining yarn.People who dislike Abbey's politics may still enjoy his stories.This is one they should try.

superfantastic
Jail breaks, gun fights with lawmen, cooking beans in the desert -- I love it!

A Voice From The Past - Still Worth Reading
This book has been in my bookcase for sometime and I am not clear where it came from. Perhaps a Christmas present. Perhaps an impulse purchase as I enjoy this author, even though we are politically poles apart.

Regardless, I noticed it a few days ago and started reading it and was once again immersed in Edward Abbey's view of life from fifty-two years ago.

Jack Burn's and Paul Bondi are friends that go way back although they have drifted apart. Burn's rides back into the Bondi's life on the back of a fractious young horse he has named Whiskey only to find that his friend is in the County Jail awaiting transfer to a federal penitentary for failing to register for the draft.

Burns has an idea that if he can get into the jail, he can break his friend out and they can though go live in the mountains until the law gets tired of looking for them. He manages to get himself arrested and it looks as though his screwball plan may in fact work...except Bondi will have no part of it. He has two years to serve and a wife and child to return to. His days of protesting and supporting anarchy are over.

Burns and a couple of others manage the escape and part their seperate ways. It has come to the attention of the authorities that Burns, like Bondi has protested the Draft Registration Law and are interested in interrogating him. But first they have to find him.

The balance of the book is taken over with the search for Burns by the authorities which allows Abbey to trot out many of his political views in an entertaining way in the point and counterpoint action between the hunters and the hunted.

Even fifty-six years after it's original publication this is a book still worth reading notwithstanding the preface that Abbey writes:

"This is only a story. None of it really happened. How could it? How could such people be? The prisoner is probably a professor. The sheriff loses the next election. The truckdriver died of emphysema. And as for the cowboy, that character, why nobody even knows where he is anymore. Or even, to be honest, if he ever really was."

Right. Only a story. But, there are stories, and there are stories. This is one you will remember.

An Ed Abbey Classic, but it's no Moneky Wrench Gang
If you're a fan of Ed Abbey, you really ought to read this book.It's not his best work, because his views are presented with a very thin plot.The image of the cowboy riding down the freeway was lovely, however and it doesn't feel too preachy.I would recommend Monkey Wrench Gang or Desert Solitaire to anyone just breaking into Abbey's work.They're simply better peices and frankly, they appear to have been written for a more educated audience than Brave Cowboy.

Brave Cowboy is a quick, easy read that will entertain you and will help clarify Abbey's views on freedom, men and women.It's unlikely you'll agree with him, but the subtext of the book will make you think more than the plot itself.

Brave Author, Great Publisher
While other reviews will give you a plot synopsis and their reaction to the book, or a comparison with the movie, "Lonely Are The Brave," I will limit my review to a few off the wall observations.First, I liked this book a lot and believe the adaptation by Dalton Trumbo to be one of the most faithful by any screenwriter.Often it is difficult not to think of the movie a book is based on while reading it (if you've seen the movie first).But Abbey is so good he made me forget I'd seen the movie and allowed me to lose myself in his words and story.So, a great book, well written, that didn't back away from some of the political hot potatoes most writers and publishers would rather avoid (draft dodging, property rights, etc.).

Few books have made me cry at the end -- usually it's when I think of the time and money wasted on them.This one left me in tears because of a profound sense of loss of another kind, the loss of men such as John W. Burns, the loss of the maverick, the loss of a true voice of the west, and the loss of a west that we will never know except through books and movies.

But one thing impressed me as much as the contents of the book -- its binding.Rarely does anyone discuss this, but I have to say that this edition is the best bound I've ever read.The spine was not stiff and the pages were very flexible allowing me to read one handed almost anywhere.If all paperbacks used this same binding, I wouldn't have to replace my often-read books every eight or nine years.So, from this perspective, the publisher is allowing Abbey's work a much longer life in one edition.Possibly a tribute to Abbey's philosophy, or merely a coincidence, either way I remain impressed by this.This may be the only paperback I own that I can pass to my grandson, as is, for his enjoyment in the future. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

SLICKROCK
THE BOOK ARRIVED QUICKLY AND IT WAS IN PERFECT CONDITION, JUST AS THEY DESCRIBED.THANK YOU! ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of excerpts from the private journals of an eccentric environmentalist features his notes, philosophies, and character sketches, chronicling his lifelong struggle to preserve the Southwestern wilderness. 20,000 first printing.Amazon.com Review
Few have cared more about American wilderness than the irascible Cactus Ed. Author of eco-classics such as The Monkey Wrench Gang and Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey reveals all his rough-hewn edges and passionate beliefs in this witty, outspoken, maddening, and sometimes brilliant selection of journal entries that takes the writer from his early years as a park ranger and would-be literary 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

Product Description
Author Edward Paul Abbey was investigated by the FBI for sedition. While attending school in Pennsylvania, he publicly proposed destruction of draft cards. Abbey served in the U.S. military from 1945 to1947. A Loyalty of Government Employee investigation was conducted while Abbey worked for the National Forrest Service. A huge 148 pages!! ... Read more

Product Description
Ed Abbey was one of the most provocative and important writers on the American West. Since his death in 1989, his novels and numerous works of nonfiction have continued to attract, inspire, and influence an expanding audience. In this volume, 37 of Abbey's friends, students, and contemporaries remember his life and work. Resist Much, Obey Little is a fascinating memorial to an icon of the environmental movement who lived bravely and wrote with prophetic genius.
-- Ann Zwinger recalls Abbey's kindness on a river rafting trip;
-- Wendell Berry struggles to define a man who defied conventional labels;
-- Barbara Kingsolver remembers working with Abbey as a fiction contest judge;
-- Edward Hoagland solemnly describes Abbey's death and burial in the desert.

Other contributors include: John Nichols, Gary Paul Nabhan, David Petersen, Terry Tempest Williams, Gary Snyder, Sam Hamill, Diane Wakoski, Robert Houston, Lawrence Clark Powell, Nancy Mairs, Luis Alberto Urrea, William Eastlake, Charles Bowden, Doug Peacock, and Dave Foreman, among others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

You're A Sissy If You Don't Read This Book
Another fellow managed to cover all the eloquent intellectualities, butthe simple truth is that this here book is a good look at a great man. Abbey is legendary, indeed, and that's a good thing, for the stuff hedefended deserves a hero and the folks he poked mercilessly with his sharpstick wit (just about about all of us, but especially money-grubbingland-rapers and the lackadaisical dogs who can't bother to oppose them)deserved the poking. Buy this book, then let it collect dust until you'veread through Abbey's words to discover him for yourself.

Remembering Ed; Fact and Fantasy
Wonderful collection of essays on the general theme of who Edward Abbey was. Some of the writers include Wendell Berry, Ed's friend Jack Loeffler, Gary "Jafey Rider" Snyder, Dave Petersen and Terry Tempest Williams. From this partial list of contributors, it's obvious that this is a book full of personal observances about one of the west's most hated and best loved figures. Since his death in 1989, the legend of Ed Abbey has perhaps grown beyond manageability. The essays collected here simultaneously feed that legend, while speaking of the actual person behind the lore. This juxtaposition creates an interesting tension throughout the book, as those who knew the man grapple with the public vs. the private Abbey. Abbey himself is also called to task to reveal a bit of himself through a couple of interviews. In hopes that the issue may never be solved and that the world will continue to discuss Abbey, here is what Ed had to say about himself, taken from the Poetry Center Interview: "The real Edward Abbey -- whoever the hell that is -- is a real shy, timid fellow, but the character I create in my journalism is perhaps a person I would like to be: bold, brash, daring...I guess some people mistake the creation for the author, but that's their problem." Resist Much, Obey Little is essential reading for those who knew Ed, as well as for those who are just discovering him. ... Read more

Product Description
The Grand Canyon continues to be the most popular of our national parks. While millions gaze at its cliffs each year, only 15,000 float through the canyon on the Colorado River. A landmark portrait of the Grand Canyon, this is the only photography book to document this amazing journey from river level. Now this classic is back in print, with an updated preface and introduction and a dozen new photographs. A journal in photos and words, The Hidden Canyon captures the desert landscape and the thrill of the rapids. Edward Abbey's journal filled with wry humor and respect for the canyon describes the journey as the dories (small wooden boats) alternately float and charge through the breathtaking landscapes and some of the roughest white water in North America. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A glorious classic whether for coffee table or pre-expedidition use
Because of this gorgeous book we took my adventurous Mom down the Colorado in a little wooden dory as a retirement celebration.It was perhaps the most amazing adventure of our lives.

The quality of the photography is so stunning that the book meant even more to us afterwards.The photographer was a young heroic boatman on the Grand Canyon when he shot these images, and he has since become recognized as a commercial photographer.This, however, is art.

The text by Abbey has some literary curiosity value, but the photos are the heart of this book.
Get one for yourself if you are also getting one as a gift, it's that delicious.

A River Journey
I've been down part of the Colorado from Diamond Creek to Lake Mead but have never had the means or opportunity to see the rest at water's edge. Ed Abbey's text and John Blaustein's photos take me on a vicarious trip that brings back all the excitement of white water and the awsome experience of gazing up and up at the canyon's walls that many only view from the rim. It's a different canyon down there and a river journey allows me to see it all and remember the feel of ancient schist and the plaintive song of the canyon wren. It's a book to read and look at again and again even if you can never visit or revisit the river itself.

The Hidden Canyon:A River Journey
As a person how recently did a two week raft trip down the Grand Canyon, I can say that this book visually caputures the essence of the experience!The pictures are wonderful.I have recommended it to my rafting friends as well as some Grand Canyon river guides.

The Hidden Canyon : A River Journey
Having done the Colorado in a private raft, The Hidden Canyon absolutely thrilled me - again - as much with its elegant pictures as with Edward Abbey's flat-out-fun narration.

AWE INSPIRING!!
Having rafted the Colorado myself 2 years ago, this was a perfect souvenir-reminder of my trip.The photos in particular are exquisite - some I have no idea how he managed to capture without ending up in theriver himself.I lost my Pentax to the very first rapid!This bookdefinitely gives a sense of what the Canyon, the river, and the rapids arelike.Makes me want to go back! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Like Flame...
Here lies proof of the theory that the soul of a writer propogates beyond into the heart of the reader.It's rare that I give a book 5 stars, but this anthology, a picture taken some years after Edward Abbey's death, showhis ideas and methods are still very much alive.Some of the authorsherein have chosen the path of analysis, and Coyote slips by.He's hard tofind, but not for lack of trying.Others have chosen to 'become' ratherthan to 'seek', and here's where the real fun begins.

I'll not give allthe secrets away.It's much more enjoyable to find them for yourself.ButI will say one thing:I had a revelation while reading this book, anddespite Abbey's Nietzshean roots, I hold him closer now and with greaterrespect, after reading this book. ... Read more

Product Description
A legendary hero of the west and an icon to irreverent and fun-loving souls everywhere, Abbey's literary reputation continues to soar. Principally known as a prose writer, Abbey was also a passionate producer of verse. These never-before-published poems are culled from Abbey's Journals and offer an insightful, unique look into the mind of a legend. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good Ol' Country Apples
I can't imagine how you've found this product unless by either being already a fan of Edward Abbey or by sheer chance: it's not a collection of poetry you'd otherwise hear of. And I am no different. I bought this book on a whim from my library for a dollar, thinking I'd give just about any book of poetry a chance for a dollar.

Edward Abbey is apparently a well-known American Southwestern writer, and this is a collection of never-before and never-again-to-be published poems. He is, as he says of himself in his poem "A Simple-Minded Song of Hatred" about hating New York City, a "poor country boy" (51). And I think you have to be at least part "good ol' country boy" to really enjoy this collection. There are many many many images of hawks and aspens and birds and mountains.

There are some gems. I particularly like "May, 1952--Norway" and "Soaring Song," both love poems. The three line "Writer" is also appealing. But there aren't many poems you can really latch on to emotionally. Or intellectually, I suppose, either. But then, the editor admits in his introduction that these poems were "never, it seems, intended to be 'the thick dense intense complicated stuff'" (xii) that Edward Abbey himself said poetry was supposed to be. The editor (quite clearly a close friend of Abbey's) says these poems will endure, however, because they are just so EDWARD ABBEY!

So, yes, if you found this product through already being a fan of Abbey's, you may enjoy it. Or, perhaps, if you're a good ol' boy who loves lots of mountains and hawks and not so much the "dense intense complicated stuff," you may like it, too. Otherwise, I suggest you pass on it.

I really liked this book
When I first read this book I was in Sata Fe, New Mexico's public library looking for some other poetry book.When I cam across it I thumbed through it at first but then a few poems just grabbed me and I ended up reading theentire thing there in the public library. The poems are real.I likeEdward Abbey's poetry because it is not so flowery and wordy that you losethe point, but just enuff.His metaphores and style of writting truleycapture the sense of whatever momment he may be writting about. ... Read more

Product 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

Product Description
A posthumous collection of seventy-two poems, never before published anywhere, by a legendary writer cherished for his iconoclastic wit and prescient environmentalism, swing daringly between the pain and joy of his life and are all marked by his passionate nonconformity. ... Read more