Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey
Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey
9 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
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Desert Solitaire
A Season in the Wilderness

Author: Edward Abbey

Narrator: Michael Kramer

Unabridged: 11 hr 31 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/19/2011

Synopsis

When Desert Solitaire was first published in 1968, it became the focus of a nationwide cult. Rude and sensitive. Thought-provoking and mystical. Angry and loving. Both Abbey and this book are all of these and more. Here, the legendary author of The Monkey Wrench Gang, Abbey's Road, and many other critically acclaimed books vividly captures the essence of his life during three seasons as a park ranger in southeastern Utah. This is a rare view of a quest to experience nature in its purest form—the silence, the struggle, the overwhelming beauty. But this is also the gripping, anguished cry of a man of character who challenges the growing exploitation of the wilderness by oil and mining interests, as well as by the tourist industry.

Abbey's observations and challenges remain as relevant now as the day he wrote them. Today, Desert Solitaire asks if any of our incalculable natural treasures can be saved before the bulldozers strike again.

About Edward Abbey

Edward Abbey (1927-1989) was born in Home, Pennsylvania, and educated at the University of New Mexico and the University of Edinburgh. His many books include The Monkey Wrench Gang, Brave Cowboy, The Fool's Progress, and Down the River.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Will on September 05, 2023

Desert Solitaire seemed the right book to take along on a trip to the southwest in September 2009. Abbey writes of the beauty of the southwest. As a ranger at Arches National Park he had a close relationship with some of our country’s most exquisite scenery. In the 18 essays that make up the book,......more

Goodreads review by Marvin on June 04, 2009

Any discussion of the great Southwest regional writer Edward Abbey invariably turns to the fact that he was a pompous self-centered hypocritical womanizer. And those were his good qualities (just kidding, Michelle). He advocated birth control and railed against immigrants having children yet fathere......more

Goodreads review by Ken-ichi on May 10, 2010

Anyone who thinks about nature will find things to love and despise about Desert Solitaire. One moment he's waxing on about the beauty of the cliffrose or the injustice of Navajo disenfranchisement and the next he's throwing rocks at bunnies and recommending that all dogs be ground up for coyote foo......more

Goodreads review by Christy on January 14, 2012

I wanted to like this a lot more than I was able to. Abbey includes some beautifully poetic writing about the desert landscape at times and if that remained the central focus of the book, it would be fantastic; however, the other focus of Desert Solitaire is Abbey himself and, at least based on the......more

Goodreads review by Moonkiszt on January 27, 2020

This came across my horizon through a list book - the 1000 books you should read before you die, by J. Mustich. . . never had I heard of Edward Abbey and his fierce opinions specifically captured in his book Desert Solitaire, all about the nature spilled over the earth in the Four Corners area of th......more

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