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Ed Abbey called The Monkey Wrench Gang, his 1975 novel, a "comic extravaganza." Some readers have remarked that the book is more a comic book than a real novel, and it's true that reading this incendiary call to protect the American wilderness requires more than a little of the old willing suspension of disbelief. The story centers on Vietnam veteran George Washington Hayduke III, who returns to the desert to find his beloved canyons and rivers threatened by industrial development. On a rafting trip down the Colorado River, Hayduke joins forces with feminist saboteur Bonnie Abbzug, wilderness guide Seldom Seen Smith, and billboard torcher Doc Sarvis, M.D., and together they wander off to wage war on the big yellow machines, on dam builders and road builders and strip miners. As they do, his characters voice Abbey's concerns about wilderness preservation ("Hell of a place to lose a cow," Smith thinks to himself while roaming through the canyonlands of southern Utah. "Hell of a place to lose your heart. Hell of a place... to lose. Period"). Moving from one improbable situation to the next, packing more adventure into the space of a few weeks than most real people do in a lifetime, the motley gang puts fear into the hearts of their enemies, laughing all the while. It's comic, yes, and required reading for anyone who has come to love the desert. --Gregory McNamee
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Excellent high adventure." -- -- Playboy
"Mixes comedy and chaos with enough chase sequences to leave you hungering for more." -- -- San Francisco Chronicle
"Ribald, outrageous and, in fact, scandalous." -- --Smithsonian --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
"Mixes comedy and chaos with enough chase sequences to leave you hungering for more." -- -- San Francisco Chronicle
"Ribald, outrageous and, in fact, scandalous." -- --Smithsonian --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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First Sentence
Dr. Sarvis with his bald mottled dome and savage visage, grim and noble as Sibelius, was out night-riding on a routine neighborhood beautification project, burning billboards along the highway-U.S. 66, later to be devoured by the superstate's interstate a Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Dr. Sarvis with his bald mottled dome and savage visage, grim and noble as Sibelius, was out night-riding on a routine neighborhood beautification project, burning billboards along the highway-U.S. 66, later to be devoured by the superstate's interstate a Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiring,
This review is from: Monkey Wrench Gang (Paperback)
It reminded me of people I know, situations I've been through. I was a teenager in 90's, which was a decade much more like the way the 60's are portrayed than the 60's ever were. Contrary to many of these reviews, The Monkey Wrench Gang was not a "70's" thing, there are more activists now than there ever were in the 60s or 70s, more pot heads now than there ever were in the 60's and 70s and more generally good people now than there were in the 60's or 70's. The media falsely portrayed the small but growing movement in the 60's and 70s as a mass movement the same way they now portray the mass movement as a small, declining movement. Something has to change, your holy-lord-and-master-the-economy cannot simply continue to grow infinitely and it's demands are swallowing up not only our environment but our liberty.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tilting at windmills,
By Amanda (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Monkey Wrench Gang (Paperback)
This is a great book. Edward Abbey was an amazing writer, and despite some tense shifts, he was stylistically incredible and very unique. I would recommend this book to anyone -- it's interesting environmentally, but also well-written.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good As American Beer,
By
This review is from: Monkey Wrench Gang (Paperback)
I just finished reading Monkey Wrench Gang for the second time. The first time, in college I didn't care for it, skipped through it, thought it was low grade schlock that wasn't worthy the effort of my philosophical, overly cerebral mind.Then 9 years of life happened and man, I now realize this is one of the best books ever written because it meets the two basic criteria: 1) entertainment 2) convey an idea I don't read as much anymore because frankly, the history channel and discovery channel are just as informative without putting me to sleep. But this book is paced to move and the characters are actually worth getting to know. Also, Abbey spends time on descriptions of a landscape as big as the sky but doesn't fuss with pages of set-up or description of inane, everyday things. His characters live in a world that moves and they move through it. And the message is there too. Abbey says you can be concerned about the environment, live on the land, and get the subtle vibe of Mother Earth without pooping in a PVC tube. People who like shlitz can have high ideals, pick-up trucks aren't meant to be washed (much), and people who are offended by Abbey's lack of PC protocol probably wouldn't survive in the environment he loved so much. And you gotta love the fact that the only female character in the book is the composite of a 13-year-old boy's female fantacy.
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