Elizabeth Gilbert's story of Eustace Conway, whose idealistic compulsion to live completely off the land at an early age captures the imagination of countless Americans, is a most interesting book. Gilbert clearly has a deep affection for this compelling and complex man. And yet the story she tells of Conway's toxic and damaging relationship with his father and his inability to sustain relationships with the scores of people drawn to him and to his small 1000 acre farm in North Carolina, is telling. A complex story of a difficult and interesting man, well told. This book is probably not what you were expecting, and is all the better for it. ( )

The story of Eustace Conway, who lived off the land, totally. He set up a 1000 acre 'reserve', rode across the States on horse-back, hiked the Appalachian trail, et etc. A bit of a screwball, but a very interesting and entertaining read. ( )

This is the story of Eustace Conway. A man who wanted to live entirely self-sufficiently, and be a part of nature. He learned woods skills as a child from both parents and could accurately use a bow and arrow by the age of ten. At twelve he spent a week alone in the woods, just to prove he could do it and survive. At seventeen he moved out of his parents' house to live in a tipi he built himself in the mountains, catching his own game for food and making clothes out of their skins. In the years that followed, Conway (among other adventures) traveled the Mississippi in a wooden canoe, hiked the Appalachian trail, kayaked across Alaska and crossed America coast to coast on horseback. But what he really wanted to do was own a piece of land, where he could work out his ideas and methods of living close to nature in his own way. Eventually he set up a ranch called Turtle Island where he not only lived his dream but tried to spread his vision to others, running summer camps which immersed children in nature.

The Last American Man is a fascinating book. Not only for its many passages describing how Conway did everything by hand- weaving baskets, starting fires without matches, stitching his own clothes, etc. but also showing how frustrating it was for Conway when he couldn't entirely escape modern society. Did any of you daydream as a kid of going off and living in the woods by your own skills? I know I did at one time. Conway's experience breaks the illusion of nature survival being at all idyllic or easy- but it's intriguing to read how very seriously he tried.

from the DogEar Diary ( )

This book left me wanting immediately to know what has since happened to Eustace Conway. Has he managed to marry his uncompromising idealism with the realities that seemed to be weighing on him enough to finally slow him down? Has he continued the dream or left it to commune with the nature only he understands? Has he found lasting friendships? I enjoyed this book from cover to cover. It's rich with insight on several levels. The main subject is our increasing remoteness from nature (we now think in boxes rather than circles), but there are several equally ponderous sub-themes. Like many real-life heroes, Conway sought to escape his own upbringing, yet found himself modeling that bad parts in other ways. This is a story about man's place in the world, man's need to challenge the world, and man's need to reconcile his own self with his earliest aspirations about that journey. ( )

Eustace Conway lives on the fringe of society. Or more accurately Eustace Conway is living. And society is fat and groggy half asleep on the couch. Conway lives in the woods. He'd be a hermit, if he wasn't taking in folks and teaching them how to rebuild the land and live off of it.
This book is filled with a great personal philosophy of responsibility and backlash to consumerism. But be careful, cause Conway's logic and spirit is highly adictive. Before you know it you'll be living in your backyard dreaming of greener pastures.
But it's not all roses. One line I remember goes something like '...he eats roadkill. He judges how fresh it is by how many and how high the bugs are jumping on the carcass'. Eewwwww.

I picked up this book after first reading Gilbert's article in a magazine (GQ, I think). The article was fan-freaking-tastic. I passed it around to all my friends. I haven't done the same with the book.
In the book Gilbert expands on many points she featured in her article, but the expansion really didn't give any more insight. There's too much relating back to Conway's dad, but I guess some wouldn't tire of that.
In spite of all I have said I really did like the book. I was just hoping to be blown away as I was with some of her earlier journalistic pieces. ( )