Edward Abbey

A rugged forest ranger finds himself being romantically drawn to a young American girl

Black Sun

Essays discuss Thoreau, politics, the MX missile, modern agricultural methods, and the author's adventures traveling down rivers in Utah, Arizona, and Mexico

Down the River

Long considered an underground classic, The Journey Home stands beside Desert Solitude as one of Abbey's most important works. In a voice edged with chagrin, Abbey offers a portrait of the American West that readers will not soon forget, presenting the reflections and observations of a man who left the urban world behind in pursuit of the natural one and the myths buried therein.

Some Words in Defense of the American West

The Journey Home

Four irate rebels join forces to wage war on the stripminers, clear-cutters, and the highway and dam and bridge builders who are turning their natural habitat into a wasteland. A new Introduction by historian Brinkley puts this enduring cult classic in perspective by placing it at the forefront of an important historical movement.

The Monkey Wrench Gang

This memoir of life in the American desert by the author of The Monkey Wrench Gang is a nature writing classic on par with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. In Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey recounts his many escapades, adventures, and epiphanies as an Arches National Park ranger outside Moab, Utah. Brimming with arresting insights, impassioned arguments for wilderness conservation, and a raconteur’s wit, it is one of Abbey’s most critically acclaimed works. Through stories and philosophical musings, Abbey reflects on the condition of our remaining wilderness, the future of a civilization, and his own internal struggle with morality. As the world continues its rapid development, Abbey’s cry to maintain the natural beauty of the West remains just as relevant today as when this book first appeared in 1968.

Desert Solitaire

Essays discuss cowboys, urban growth, the preservation of the wilderness, hunting, illegal immigrants, wild horses, travel, parklands, and the responsibilities of the writer

One Life at a Time, Please

Peu de livres ont autant déchaîné les passions que celui que vous tenez entre les mains. Publié pour la première fois en 1968, Désert solitaire est en effet de ces rares livres dont on peut affirmer sans exagérer qu'il "changeait les vies" comme l'écrit Doug Peacock. À la fin des années 1950, Edward Abbey travaille deux saisons comme ranger dans le parc national des Arches, en plein coeur du désert de l'Utah. Lorsqu'il y retourne, une dizaine d'années plus tard, il constate avec effroi que le progrès est aussi passé par là. Cette aventure forme la base d'un récit envoûtant, véritable chant d'amour à la sauvagerie du monde, mais aussi formidable coup de colère du légendaire auteur du Gang de la clef à molette.

Désert solitaire

Essays from the Outside

Beyond the Wall

"Abbey went on publishing new work until his untimely death in 1989 at age sixty, so this new edition includes a selection of later Abbey: a chapter from Hayduke Lives!, the hilarious sequel to The Monkey Wrench Gang; excerpts from his revealing journals; a little-known account of a trip to the Sea of Cortez; and examples of his poetry."--BOOK JACKET.

The Best of Edward Abbey

Offers articles on outdoor sports, wilderness life, adventure travel, and related subjects from the pages of "Outside"

The First 20 Years

The Best of Outside

From acclaimed author and literary genius Edward Abbey comes this classic novel that inspired the motion picture Lonely Are The Brave—a stirring and unforgettable tribute to the American hero and the American West. The Brave Cowboy is a classic of modern Western literature. It follows Jack Burns, a loner at odds with modern civilization. He rides a feisty chestnut mare across the New West—a once beautiful land now smothered beneath airstrips and superhighways. An "anarchist cowboy," he lives by a personal code of ethics that sets him on a collision course with the keepers of law and order. After a prison breakout plan goes awry, he finds himself and his horse, Whisky, pursued across the desert towards the mountains that lead to Mexico, and to freedom. With local law enforcement, the feds, and the military on their tails, the cowboy and his horse race towards their destiny.

An Old Tale in a New Time

The Brave Cowboy

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 Journal Edward 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."

Notes from a Secret Journal

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto)

This book is different from any other Edward Abbey book. It includes essays, travel pieces and fictions to reveal Ed's life directly, in his own words. The selections gathered here are arranged chronologically by incident, not by date of publication, to offer Edward Abbey's life from the time he was the boy called Ned in Home, Pennsylvania, until his death in Tucson at age 62. A short note introduces each of the four parts of the book and attempts to identify what's happening in the author's life at the time. When relevant, some details of publishing history are provided.

A Reader

The Serpents of Paradise

"A passionately felt, deeply poetic book. It has philosophy. It has humor. It has its share of nerve-tingling adventures...set down in a lean, racing prose, in a close-knit style of power and beauty." THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOKREVIEW Edward Abbey lived for three seasons in the desert at Moab, Utah, and what he discovered about the land before him, the world around him, and the heart that beat within, is a fascinating, sometimes raucous, always personal account of a place that has already disappeared, but is worth remembering and living through again and again.

A Season in the Wilderness

Audacious, controversial and hilarious, The Monkey Wrench Gang is Edward Abbey's masterpiece - a big, boisterous and unforgettable novel about freedom and commitment that ignited the flames of environmental activism. Throughout the vast American West, nature is being victimized by a Big Government / Big Business conspiracy of bridges, dams and concrete. But a motley gang of individuals has decided that enough is enough. A burnt-out veteran, a mad doctor and a polygamist join forces in a noble cause: to dismantle the machinery of progress through peaceful means, or otherwise.

Jonathan Troy

A pictorial exposition of the natural wonders that fashion the Utah wilderness, supplemented by personal thoughts on the reasons for its conservation.

The Canyon Country of Southeast Utah

Slickrock

David Petersen

A collection of high-energy, previously unpublished letters by the late author of The Monkey Wrench Gang and Desert Solitaire shares his observations on a wide variety of topics, from sex and the Bond girls to religion and the war in Vietnam.

Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

Postcards from Ed

La banda de la tenaza

Exploration de la beauté impérissable des derniers grands espaces sauvages américains, En descendant la rivière nous entraîne dans des paysages où le corps et l’esprit flottent librement. Et leur immensité réveille des méditations sur des sujets allant de la vie d’Henry David Thoreau à la militarisation des grands espaces. On y entend alors une condamnation passionnée des coups portés à notre patrimoine naturel au nom du progrès, du profit et de la sécurité. Rempli d’aubes enflammées, de rivières brillantes et de canyons radieux, ce recueil, inédit en France, est chargé d’une rage sincère et déchaînée contre la cupidité humaine. En descendant la rivière avec Edward Abbey, nous retrouvons l’auteur américain poète et provocateur à son meilleur, au moment où nous avons le plus besoin de lui.

Edward Abbey

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