Abbey's Road
by Edward Abbey
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Description
"The natural world, as we call it, has already become remote, out of reach, mysterious, in the minds of urban and suburban Americans. They see the wilderness disappearing, slipping away, receding into an inaccessible past. But they are mistaken. That world can still be rescued... that is my main excuse for this book."--Edward Abbey You are about to visit some of the most exciting places on earth. Not the sort of excitement that makes morning headlines or the nightly news. Instead it is the show more excitement that comes from experiencing the natural world as it always has been and should be, and seeing human beings living in tune with its subtlest rhythms. In Australian cattle country and in the primitive outback. On a desert island off Mexico and in the Sierra Madres. On the Rio Grande and in the great Southwest. On Lake Powell in Utah and in the living American desert. It is adventure. It is enlightenment. It is vintage Abbey. "I have been along a few of Mr. Abbey's roads. He sees much more than I did. Indeed, reading him is often better than being there was."--John Leonard, author of Reading for My Life show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Abbey has often been called sexist, racist, and some other not so nice names, many of them justifiable at least in part. It is quite true that very little of Abbey's work would fit into the description of politically correct. This book is no exception. And like most of his other books, if you are willing to overlook those foibles, and let the author's voice speak for itself, look past those things that irritate or annoy you, there will be plenty of gold to make the book worth reading. Abbey writes about the American west, but not the old west of cowboys and Indians. This is the new west, the brutalized west, the west that has been altered, in some cases irrevocably, by humans. In this book, he also includes descriptions of Australia, show more and, as is often the case, Mexico. Abbey, as usual, demonstrates for us an odd mix of elitist anti-elitism, intellectual anti-intellectualism, and libertarian socialism. Just when you think you've got a handle on him, he surprises you by turning the next corner a different direction. This book, although not his finest work, is definitely worth a look. show less
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Author Information
42+ Works 13,972 Members
Edward Abbey was born January 29, 1927 in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and grew up in nearby Home. After military service in Naples, Italy, from 1945-47, he enrolled in Indiana University of Pennsylvania for a year before traveling to the West. He fell in love with the desert Southwest and eventually attended the University of New Mexico, where he show more obtained both graduate and post-graduate degrees. Abbey was a Fulbright Fellow from 1951-52. Abbey was an anarchist and a radical environmentalist; these positions are reflected in his writings. His novel Fire on the Mountain won the Western Heritage Award for Best Novel in 1963. Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness, considered by many to be his best work, is nonfiction that reflects Abbey's love for the American Southwest and draws on his experiences as a park ranger. Among his best-known works are The Brave Cowboy (1956), The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), and The Fool's Progress (1988). In 1966 The Brave Cowboy was made into a movie titled Lonely Are the Brave, starring Kirk Douglas. Two collections of essays have been published since his death in 1989: Confessions of a Barbarian in 1994 and The Serpents of Paradise the following year. In 1987, Abbey was offered the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, but he declined. Abbey died in March 1989, near Tucson, Arizona, from complications following surgery. He did not want a traditional burial but rather requested to be buried in the Arizona desert, where he could nourish the earth which had been the subject of so many of his works. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Abbey's road
- Original title
- Abbey's road
- Original publication date
- 1979
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 315
- Popularity
- 100,938
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.80)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 7
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 1
