Edward Abbey And Desert Solitaire
I recently finished Edward Abbey's legendary memoir Desert Solitaire . It's an amazing book but one that left me with mixed feelings about the author. The memoir covers a period in the 1950s when Abbey worked as a seasonal ranger at then Arches National Monument, now a national park. His descriptions of the desert, its landscape, vegetation and wildlife are vivid and atmospheric. He wrote with a dry sense of humor, tinged with sarcasm and more than a bit of misanthropy. Abbey included tales of side adventures in the Grand Canyon and other wild areas of the desert southwest. These are fascinating glimpses into a world few see, and a world that has been transformed by increasing population and visitation. Edward Abbey could see this transformation happening before his eyes, and he didn't like it. You could read long excerpts from the book and conclude Abbey was an environmentalist who loved nature, and he was, but the problem comes with some of his behavior. He wrote at lengt...
