Desert Solitaire
Edward Abbey · 1968
The founding text of American environmental radicalism. Essays about the Utah desert that are both love letters to wilderness and screeds against industrial tourism. Fierce, funny, deliberately antagonistic.
The case against
Abbey condenses several ranger seasons into one and calls it memoir, kills a rabbit with a rock to test a theory, and sneers at the tourists whose entrance fees paid his salary. The misanthropy is the charm until it curdles; his asides about Navajos have aged especially badly. Polemic this fierce always gores somebody, including its author.
Essays · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
if this one calls to you, so will these →
