#edward+abbey

[nobeerreviews]

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.

-- Edward Abbey

[entheognosis]

The highest treason, the meanest treason, is to deny the holiness of this little blue planet on which we journey through the cold void of space.

Edward Abbey

[dk-thrive]

But what’s an honest soul to do? I don’t know. I can say this: Be loyal to what you love, be true to the earth, fight your enemies with passion and laughter.

— Edward Abbey, Confessions of a Barbarian: Selections from the Journals of Edward Abbey 1951-1989 (Little, Brown & Company, 1994) (via Alive on All Channels)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

“To the intelligent man or woman, life appears infinitely mysterious. But the stupid have an answer for every question.”

—Edward Abbey

[Poetic Outlaws]

[intotheclash]

L'anarchia non è una favola romantica, ma una testarda constatazione, basata su cinquemila anni di esperienza, che non possiamo affidare la gestione delle nostre vite a re, preti, politici, generali, e commissari provinciali.

(Edward Abbey)

[ofruinsandmyth]

Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself.

— Edward Abbey

[theinquisitxor]

My great Southwest USA roadtrip reading list!

I just returned from a road trip across the state of Utah, visiting the five Utah national parks, as well as a few state parks. I live on the East Coast, but the Southwest holds a special place in my heart, and I've been lucky to visit various parts of Arizona, Utah, and Nevada several times over the years. This was my first time to the 5 Utah national parks (Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zion). Like the english major and librarian I am, I made myself a reading list for my trip. In the few months leading up to the trip, I worked through 8 books about Utah and the parks.

Here's what I read + a few other books I've also added to my tbr since (in chronological order by publication date):

This Is The Place: Utah by Maurine Whipple (1945): I found this book (a first edition too!) in in the library I work at. Maurine Whipple was a Mormon writer, and wrote this travel guide published in 1945. This book was a unique snap-shot in time, as Whipple covers Utah LDS history, the settlement of the land, and a bit about the parks. I would've like more information about the land/nature, but this was more about the LDS. The pictures were very cool and I enjoyed looking at them.

Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness by Edward Abbey (1968): I re-read this book on audio in preparation for my trip. I really like this book, but also recognize Abbey's many flaws. This is a quintessential book on the desert, and Abbey foresaw many of the problems that the region now faces. Reading about the area in the 1950s/60s is also a snapshot in time, and very interesting to compare to what I saw this year, over 50 years since Abbey wrote about the region.

Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert by Terry Tempest Williams (2001): This ended up being my favorite book I read from this list. I loved William's writing style, and found this book to be a unique blend of literary writing, scientific writing, poetry, and prose. Her call for conservation and saving the Utah desert in the early 2000s is still just as relevant and an on-going battle. I highly recommend this one!

A Zion Canyon Reader edited by Nathan N. Waite and Reid L. Neilson (2014): I read several 'readers' about the parks, each a selection of excerpts and essays about the specific park/region the reader covers. The Zion reader covers the canyon and regional history from geology, Native Americans, first Mormons, the rise of tourism to present day. The selection of writing covers 1875-2007.

Desert Cabal: A New Season in the Wilderness by Amy Irvine (2018): this is an essay and response to Desert Solitaire on its 50th anniversary of publication. I liked what Irvine was doing this with essay, but I personally didn't enjoy her writing very much. I liked what she explored and the nuances of Abbey in the 21st century.

The Capitol Reef Reader edited by Stephen Trimble (2019): I didn't have a lot of preexisting knowledge about Capitol Reef, and this reader was a great introduction. This was formatted in the same way the Zion Reader was done, and was a great way to learn about the park.

America the Beautiful? One Woman in a Borrowed Prius on the Road Most Traveled by Blythe Roberson (2023): This was recommend to me by @the-forest-library, and while it's not only about the Utah parks, it was a fun read. It captures the highs and lows of doing a road trip, what visiting National Parks can be like in the present day, and some larger dilemmas the parks are facing surrounding overcrowding and climate change. Along with a good sense of humor.

The Arches Reader edited by Jeffrey D. Nichols (2024): the last reader that I read before my trip, and like the previous two, this was also a great introduction to the park and the area. Like the other two, this covers geologic time, Native Americans, early settlers, the rising popularity of the park, and present day. It also has writing spanning from 1898-2022.

Since making this list, I've discovered more books and authors I want to explore. I also realized that I don't have any literature on here specific to Bryce Canyon, and I don't think any of the literature I ready mentioned Bryce much. I'll have to do some digging to try and find some.

Hopefully in the next 3-4 years I'll be able to get back out to the Southwest (maybe New Mexico/Texas parks?)

Books added to my tbr:

Virga & Bone: Essays from Dry Places by Craig Childs (and anything else by Craig Childs

The New Desert Reader edited by Peter Wild

More books by Terry Tempest Williams!

Some of the writers I read excepts from across the three Readers I'd like to check out more from

If there are any books/authors you recommend, please let me know, I'd love some recommendations!

[land-of-reads]

Epigraph to The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey, which is not pulling punches: