All The Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Nature, Environment, Environmental Conservation & Protection, Biography & Memoir, Literary, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book All The Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West by David Gessner, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: David Gessner ISBN: 9780393246780
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: April 20, 2015
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: David Gessner
ISBN: 9780393246780
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: April 20, 2015
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

An homage to the West and to two great writers who set the standard for all who celebrate and defend it.

Archetypal wild man Edward Abbey and proper, dedicated Wallace Stegner left their footprints all over the western landscape. Now, award-winning nature writer David Gessner follows the ghosts of these two remarkable writer-environmentalists from Stegner's birthplace in Saskatchewan to the site of Abbey's pilgrimages to Arches National Park in Utah, braiding their stories and asking how they speak to the lives of all those who care about the West.

These two great westerners had very different ideas about what it meant to love the land and try to care for it, and they did so in distinctly different styles. Boozy, lustful, and irascible, Abbey was best known as the author of the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang (and also of the classic nature memoir Desert Solitaire), famous for spawning the idea of guerrilla actions—known to admirers as "monkeywrenching" and to law enforcement as domestic terrorism—to disrupt commercial exploitation of western lands. By contrast, Stegner, a buttoned-down, disciplined, faithful family man and devoted professor of creative writing, dedicated himself to working through the system to protect western sites such as Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado.

In a region beset by droughts and fires, by fracking and drilling, and by an ever-growing population that seems to be in the process of loving the West to death, Gessner asks: how might these two farseeing environmental thinkers have responded to the crisis?

Gessner takes us on an inspiring, entertaining journey as he renews his own commitment to cultivating a meaningful relationship with the wild, confronting American overconsumption, and fighting environmental injustice—all while reawakening the thrill of the words of his two great heroes.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

An homage to the West and to two great writers who set the standard for all who celebrate and defend it.

Archetypal wild man Edward Abbey and proper, dedicated Wallace Stegner left their footprints all over the western landscape. Now, award-winning nature writer David Gessner follows the ghosts of these two remarkable writer-environmentalists from Stegner's birthplace in Saskatchewan to the site of Abbey's pilgrimages to Arches National Park in Utah, braiding their stories and asking how they speak to the lives of all those who care about the West.

These two great westerners had very different ideas about what it meant to love the land and try to care for it, and they did so in distinctly different styles. Boozy, lustful, and irascible, Abbey was best known as the author of the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang (and also of the classic nature memoir Desert Solitaire), famous for spawning the idea of guerrilla actions—known to admirers as "monkeywrenching" and to law enforcement as domestic terrorism—to disrupt commercial exploitation of western lands. By contrast, Stegner, a buttoned-down, disciplined, faithful family man and devoted professor of creative writing, dedicated himself to working through the system to protect western sites such as Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado.

In a region beset by droughts and fires, by fracking and drilling, and by an ever-growing population that seems to be in the process of loving the West to death, Gessner asks: how might these two farseeing environmental thinkers have responded to the crisis?

Gessner takes us on an inspiring, entertaining journey as he renews his own commitment to cultivating a meaningful relationship with the wild, confronting American overconsumption, and fighting environmental injustice—all while reawakening the thrill of the words of his two great heroes.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book Thorn in the Starfish: The Immune System and How It Works by David Gessner
Cover of the book The Whole Wide Beauty: A Novel by David Gessner
Cover of the book The Religious Test: Why We Must Question the Beliefs of Our Leaders by David Gessner
Cover of the book The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson: A Novel by David Gessner
Cover of the book Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection by David Gessner
Cover of the book Aesthetic Theory: Essential Texts for Architecture and Design by David Gessner
Cover of the book Storming Heaven: A Novel by David Gessner
Cover of the book Fear's Empire: War, Terrorism, and Democracy by David Gessner
Cover of the book Jonathan Swift: The Reluctant Rebel by David Gessner
Cover of the book Lincoln's Body: A Cultural History by David Gessner
Cover of the book Audition by David Gessner
Cover of the book Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts by David Gessner
Cover of the book The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature by David Gessner
Cover of the book Collected Poems: 1950-2012 by David Gessner
Cover of the book Four Days in November: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy by David Gessner
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy