What do you think?
Rate this book
Edward Abbey: A Life
“The best biography ever about Ed. Cahalan’s meticulous research and thoughtful interviews have made this book the authoritative source for Abbey scholars and fans alike.” —Doug Peacock, author, environmentalist activist and explorer, and the inspiration for Hayduke in The Monkey Wrench Gang
He was a hero to environmentalists and the patron saint of monkeywrenchers, a man in love with desert solitude. A supposed misogynist, ornery and contentious, he nevertheless counted women among his closest friends and admirers. He attracted a cult following, but he was often uncomfortable with it. He was a writer who wandered far from Home without really starting out there. James Cahalan has written a definitive biography of a contemporary literary icon whose life was a web of contradictions. Edward A Life sets the record straight on "Cactus Ed," giving readers a fuller, more human Abbey than most have ever known. It separates fact from fiction, showing that much of the myth surrounding Abbey—such as his birth in Home, Pennsylvania, and later residence in Oracle, Arizona—was self-created and self-perpetuated.
It also shows that Abbey cultivated a persona both in his books and as a public speaker that contradicted his true publicly racy and sardonic, he was privately reserved and somber. Cahalan studied all of Abbey's works and private papers and interviewed many people who knew him—including the models for characters in The Brave Cowboy and The Monkey Wrench Gang —to create the most complete picture to date of the writer's life. He examines Abbey's childhood roots in the East and his love affair with the West, his personal relationships and tempestuous marriages, and his myriad jobs in continually shifting locations—including sixteen national parks and forests.
He also explores Abbey's writing process, his broad intellectual interests, and the philosophical roots of his politics. For Abbey fans who assume that his "honest novel," The Fool's Progress, was factual or that his public statements were entirely off the cuff, Cahalan's evenhanded treatment will be an eye-opener. More than a biography, Edward A Life is a corrective that shows that he was neither simply a countercultural cowboy hero nor an unprincipled troublemaker, but instead a complex and multifaceted person whose legacy has only begun to be appreciated. The book contains 30 photographs, capturing scenes ranging from Abbey's childhood to his burial site.
He was a hero to environmentalists and the patron saint of monkeywrenchers, a man in love with desert solitude. A supposed misogynist, ornery and contentious, he nevertheless counted women among his closest friends and admirers. He attracted a cult following, but he was often uncomfortable with it. He was a writer who wandered far from Home without really starting out there. James Cahalan has written a definitive biography of a contemporary literary icon whose life was a web of contradictions. Edward A Life sets the record straight on "Cactus Ed," giving readers a fuller, more human Abbey than most have ever known. It separates fact from fiction, showing that much of the myth surrounding Abbey—such as his birth in Home, Pennsylvania, and later residence in Oracle, Arizona—was self-created and self-perpetuated.
It also shows that Abbey cultivated a persona both in his books and as a public speaker that contradicted his true publicly racy and sardonic, he was privately reserved and somber. Cahalan studied all of Abbey's works and private papers and interviewed many people who knew him—including the models for characters in The Brave Cowboy and The Monkey Wrench Gang —to create the most complete picture to date of the writer's life. He examines Abbey's childhood roots in the East and his love affair with the West, his personal relationships and tempestuous marriages, and his myriad jobs in continually shifting locations—including sixteen national parks and forests.
He also explores Abbey's writing process, his broad intellectual interests, and the philosophical roots of his politics. For Abbey fans who assume that his "honest novel," The Fool's Progress, was factual or that his public statements were entirely off the cuff, Cahalan's evenhanded treatment will be an eye-opener. More than a biography, Edward A Life is a corrective that shows that he was neither simply a countercultural cowboy hero nor an unprincipled troublemaker, but instead a complex and multifaceted person whose legacy has only begun to be appreciated. The book contains 30 photographs, capturing scenes ranging from Abbey's childhood to his burial site.
357 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
August 29, 2007
I don’t read many biographies. (In fact, the only other one I can remember reading is one about Ben Franklin.) This book did not whet my appetite for them; I struggled through it. Cactus Ed is one of my favorite and most admired writers, and a fantastic Western character. The Monkeywrench Gang is one of my top 20 books of all time. I loved Edward Abbey: A Life because it revealed the dichotomy that was Ed Abbey by describing how Abbey created a public persona, Cactus Ed —a virtual caricature of himself— while disclosing the real Ed —a scholar, self-denied naturalist, and introvert. The book also did a good job of describing the events of Abbey’s life, his process of writing, and his passion for the wilderness that often caused him to sacrifice family and relationships. I hated this book for its redundancy (the author tells you at least five times that Doug Peacock was the inspiration for Hayduke in TMG and Hayduke Lives! before Peacock is even introduced as a friend of Abbey’s, then he tells you at least three more times) and its inability to follow a timeline. I wouldn’t have been so worried about the chronological order of things, but the chapters have names like 1959-1964, yet they contain events from long before and long after these dates, confusing things bit. Also, the book was a bit too scholarly. I felt like I was reading a biography of Hubert Humphrey. All in all, I’m glad I read it for the content, despite the style. My recommendation: Read this book in a lookout tower over the Grand Canyon or in the bottom of a slickrock canyon outside of Moab.
January 28, 2019
Good information, but it is a bit dry after reading Edward Abbey's works! :)
July 8, 2026
Edward Abbey: A Life is a well-researched and informative biography that provides a comprehensive look at one of the American West’s most influential and controversial writers. James M. Cahalan clearly did his homework, drawing from extensive sources to paint a detailed portrait of Abbey’s life, relationships, and literary career.
That said, I found it more admirable than enjoyable. The level of detail is impressive, but it sometimes comes at the expense of narrative flow, making sections feel slow and difficult to work through. While I appreciated learning more about the man behind books like Desert Solitaire, I never found myself eager to pick the biography back up after setting it down.
If you’re a devoted Edward Abbey fan or interested in Western environmental literature, this is a worthwhile read. For more casual readers, however, it may feel a bit dense. I came away better informed, even if the journey wasn’t always the easiest.
That said, I found it more admirable than enjoyable. The level of detail is impressive, but it sometimes comes at the expense of narrative flow, making sections feel slow and difficult to work through. While I appreciated learning more about the man behind books like Desert Solitaire, I never found myself eager to pick the biography back up after setting it down.
If you’re a devoted Edward Abbey fan or interested in Western environmental literature, this is a worthwhile read. For more casual readers, however, it may feel a bit dense. I came away better informed, even if the journey wasn’t always the easiest.
December 13, 2012
Meet the real Cactus Ed: Alcoholic Ed
It's true that Cahalan never uses the term, and Abbey himself certainly never fesses up to it, but it's clear that's the case, as a careful reading of this great biography shows, especially if you've read the bulk of Abbey's own work as well, as I have.
Clues? The womanizing and multiple marriages, whether or not Abbey was a misogynist. The immature and obstinate behavior (Example A: Abbey rolling a tire off the South Rim of the Grand Canyon). These alone, if seen in the context of someone's drinking, almost stamp them on the forehead as a stereotypical Type A male alcoholic. If they don't, the whopper storytelling part of his personality does.
But, of course, that's not all.
Although it turned out to be an incorrect diagnosis, normally, there's only one reason you get a diagnosis of pancreatitis without some other medical condition being indicated along with it. And, of course, Abbey's ultimately fatal esophogal varisces are traceable directly to alcohol.
Now, that said, in addition to never owning up to being an alcoholic, Abbey never quit, contrary to myth that even Cahalan doesn't appear to catch.
That's clear from Abbey's final years journals, from which Douglas Peacock, Abbey's model for Hayduke, quotes in "Walking it Off."
In early 1988, Abbey describes the effects of withrdrawal from the codeine he had been using to try to suppress chronic coughing that aggravated the varisces. He explicitly says beer does not ease his codeine withdrawal symptoms.
To the degree that Cahalan, without labeling or analyzing, does catch Abbey's alcoholic behavior, he described it well. Unfortunately, whether because of lack of experience in dealing with the breed or whatever, he unfortunately doesn't analyze Abbey.
The alcoholism is of a piece with other parts of Abbey behind his legendary self-spinning, a glimpse behind that sometimes Abbey gives us himself.
Abbey adamantly insisted he was NOT an environmentalist. Well, the Grand Canyon incident, among MANY others, prove that point all too well. Again, Cahalan sees the pieces, but doesn't do the dot-connecting as much as one might like.
What Abbey really was, as shown by things such as his fondness for 20h century classical music mentioned in "Desert Solitaire," was an existentialist philosopher with a heavy dollop of libertarianism on top. If he had fallen in love with another way of expressing and getting in touch with both existential and libertarian selves, he wouldn't have been out in Arches National Monument.
And yes, we would have been poorer for that, but not as much poorer as Abbey idolators would have us believe.
Abbey deprived the environmental world, the world at large, and many people around, of what could have been much more that he had to offer. But, that's because he was ultimately depriving his own self of -- himself.
But, again, Cahalan, while laying out all the pieces, doesn't quite put the jigsaw together.
That's the prime reason this otherwise excellent bio falls a star short of the top.
It's true that Cahalan never uses the term, and Abbey himself certainly never fesses up to it, but it's clear that's the case, as a careful reading of this great biography shows, especially if you've read the bulk of Abbey's own work as well, as I have.
Clues? The womanizing and multiple marriages, whether or not Abbey was a misogynist. The immature and obstinate behavior (Example A: Abbey rolling a tire off the South Rim of the Grand Canyon). These alone, if seen in the context of someone's drinking, almost stamp them on the forehead as a stereotypical Type A male alcoholic. If they don't, the whopper storytelling part of his personality does.
But, of course, that's not all.
Although it turned out to be an incorrect diagnosis, normally, there's only one reason you get a diagnosis of pancreatitis without some other medical condition being indicated along with it. And, of course, Abbey's ultimately fatal esophogal varisces are traceable directly to alcohol.
Now, that said, in addition to never owning up to being an alcoholic, Abbey never quit, contrary to myth that even Cahalan doesn't appear to catch.
That's clear from Abbey's final years journals, from which Douglas Peacock, Abbey's model for Hayduke, quotes in "Walking it Off."
In early 1988, Abbey describes the effects of withrdrawal from the codeine he had been using to try to suppress chronic coughing that aggravated the varisces. He explicitly says beer does not ease his codeine withdrawal symptoms.
To the degree that Cahalan, without labeling or analyzing, does catch Abbey's alcoholic behavior, he described it well. Unfortunately, whether because of lack of experience in dealing with the breed or whatever, he unfortunately doesn't analyze Abbey.
The alcoholism is of a piece with other parts of Abbey behind his legendary self-spinning, a glimpse behind that sometimes Abbey gives us himself.
Abbey adamantly insisted he was NOT an environmentalist. Well, the Grand Canyon incident, among MANY others, prove that point all too well. Again, Cahalan sees the pieces, but doesn't do the dot-connecting as much as one might like.
What Abbey really was, as shown by things such as his fondness for 20h century classical music mentioned in "Desert Solitaire," was an existentialist philosopher with a heavy dollop of libertarianism on top. If he had fallen in love with another way of expressing and getting in touch with both existential and libertarian selves, he wouldn't have been out in Arches National Monument.
And yes, we would have been poorer for that, but not as much poorer as Abbey idolators would have us believe.
Abbey deprived the environmental world, the world at large, and many people around, of what could have been much more that he had to offer. But, that's because he was ultimately depriving his own self of -- himself.
But, again, Cahalan, while laying out all the pieces, doesn't quite put the jigsaw together.
That's the prime reason this otherwise excellent bio falls a star short of the top.
May 3, 2019
Why do I like this book? His Desert Solitaire was without doubt a perfect picture of the Arches National Park along with a warning of tourism, roads, and our lack of concern for nature in its pristine form. Cahalan explains by use of copious records left by Edward Abbey the mindset that propels one with the concerns seen all around him. His entire life was connected to in a sense care-taker, gardener of a multitude of National Preserves; he always saw the eventual ruin of these places by mankind. His friendships were his audience and companions as he hiked, rafted, and shouted his heart out over mostly the Southwest. He had many loves in his life, he was a heavy drinker, and debauchery was in his nature.
In spite of all these quirky actions, he has been a lasting influence to be respected and admired. Very thorough picture of his life and his extended family. One surprising and delightful subject was his close and lasting relationship with his father, Paul.
In spite of all these quirky actions, he has been a lasting influence to be respected and admired. Very thorough picture of his life and his extended family. One surprising and delightful subject was his close and lasting relationship with his father, Paul.
August 11, 2021
Kind of long and fact-filled. The author used many interviews to write this. I just wanted to know the difference between the true Ed Abbey and the legend, like the reference librarian that I am. This does provide that. He mostly played a role and was not quite the character most people thought he was, but he was a good writer and I have liked the two books of his I've read (Brave Cowboy and Monkey Wrench Gang). I recommend this if you want a whole account of his life, his five marriages, friends, etc.
February 28, 2019
Every fan of Abbey should read this biography. Cahalan tries to "tell it as it was" and mostly succeeds. The early part of the book feels the most objective. To get to know this Abbey might cause cognitive dissonance for some die-hard fans, but that's exactly the point. In the end, I think we appreciate him more for his humanity.
June 7, 2019
I like "Cactus Ed"s writing, but this biography ended up being pretty academic and tedious. I gave up.
On a positive note, it inspired me to reread "Desert Solitaire", which is still wonderful. Except for some of the political stuff. Skim that. His nature writing is.... unique.
On a positive note, it inspired me to reread "Desert Solitaire", which is still wonderful. Except for some of the political stuff. Skim that. His nature writing is.... unique.
August 17, 2021
author spends half the book saying how abbey's stories are tall-tales and not to be believed, and the other half telling those tales as if they're true.
December 30, 2009
Abbey was the consummate Hippie. Just pissed at everyone because they didn't understand wilderness. And indeed as a people, I still think we don't understand wilderness. Sometimes I get the sense that he was just pissed because they were ruining His wilderness. He did say "the perfect country is 40,000 savages and me." Sometimes I feel like he hijacked my motto "Subvert the dominant paradigm." Well, duh, his masters thesis was "Anarchism and the morality of violence"
I've always been an advocate of wilderness. Real Wilderness. Abby's mantra of keep it as it was, sits very well with me. I think multiple-use public lands policies pushed by hungry energy companies on all too compliant Utah State Legislatures are crap. Multiple use is just code for ATVs on any-road any-where. Have you driven US89 between Salina and Panguitch? Well then, shut up until you see what they've done. Ranchers claim we were here first, you have to grandfather in our grazing rights! BS. What you really mean is we have to federally subsidize your business.
I fear for places like Round Valley Draw, and Hackberry Canyon, where natural gas is just oozing up from the streambed. Lighting your backpacking stove would ignite the creek. Nothing is more unsettling to me than to come out of Bull Valley Gorge and see a motorcycle sunk in a mud hole at the confluence with Sheep Creek. Although there is some pleasure in envisioning it's rider trapped to the throttle in the quagmire and having to abandon it because the backcountry kicked his backside.
I don't believe the High Uinta sheep farm is true wilderness either. How can you restrict a backpacking group size to 14 and tell me they have more impact on the tundra at 11,000 feet than thousands of sheep eating the flora to the bare nubbins. Whose causing more erosion? My scouts that get a lecture every time they drop a granola wrapper? That's messed up. Conversely, I've always had a problem with "I have my piece, now don't develop any more" (ala Bob Redford and Provo Canyon). I do however love Abbey's measure of an overcrowded neighborhood. "If a man can't urinate in his front yard, it's time to move."
OK. I'm done ranting now. All in all, I love what Abbey did for the conservationist movement. I think his work as an essayist is where he had the most impact and formulated his best ideas and I wholeheartedly embrace his radical views on wilderness. Given the opportunity, I will pull any surveyor stakes I see. Drive the bulldozers off the road into the river! Drain Lake Powell! 5.7 Million Wild! Go SUWA!
I've always been an advocate of wilderness. Real Wilderness. Abby's mantra of keep it as it was, sits very well with me. I think multiple-use public lands policies pushed by hungry energy companies on all too compliant Utah State Legislatures are crap. Multiple use is just code for ATVs on any-road any-where. Have you driven US89 between Salina and Panguitch? Well then, shut up until you see what they've done. Ranchers claim we were here first, you have to grandfather in our grazing rights! BS. What you really mean is we have to federally subsidize your business.
I fear for places like Round Valley Draw, and Hackberry Canyon, where natural gas is just oozing up from the streambed. Lighting your backpacking stove would ignite the creek. Nothing is more unsettling to me than to come out of Bull Valley Gorge and see a motorcycle sunk in a mud hole at the confluence with Sheep Creek. Although there is some pleasure in envisioning it's rider trapped to the throttle in the quagmire and having to abandon it because the backcountry kicked his backside.
I don't believe the High Uinta sheep farm is true wilderness either. How can you restrict a backpacking group size to 14 and tell me they have more impact on the tundra at 11,000 feet than thousands of sheep eating the flora to the bare nubbins. Whose causing more erosion? My scouts that get a lecture every time they drop a granola wrapper? That's messed up. Conversely, I've always had a problem with "I have my piece, now don't develop any more" (ala Bob Redford and Provo Canyon). I do however love Abbey's measure of an overcrowded neighborhood. "If a man can't urinate in his front yard, it's time to move."
OK. I'm done ranting now. All in all, I love what Abbey did for the conservationist movement. I think his work as an essayist is where he had the most impact and formulated his best ideas and I wholeheartedly embrace his radical views on wilderness. Given the opportunity, I will pull any surveyor stakes I see. Drive the bulldozers off the road into the river! Drain Lake Powell! 5.7 Million Wild! Go SUWA!
November 4, 2008
The difficulty of writing a biography of Edward Abbey is that he wrote so much about himself, and so much of what he wrote was a half-truth or not even a truth at all. This book becomes bogged down in trying to separate the fact from the fiction.
Because of the book's constant negotiation with Abbey's own mythology, I believe this would be a cumbersome book to get through if you were not very familiar with Abbey's writings. Details that are important to the author are important largely because they affirm or contradict a story that Abbey wrote.
If this is a book that is supposed to de-mythologize Abbey, I have to admit, I didn't really get a sense of the man from this book.
Yet I also have to admit that the biographer did an impressive job. He clearly worked worked worked to produce this book and it is full of meticulous research. It is a book that i am glad someone invested the time and energy to produce.
Because of the book's constant negotiation with Abbey's own mythology, I believe this would be a cumbersome book to get through if you were not very familiar with Abbey's writings. Details that are important to the author are important largely because they affirm or contradict a story that Abbey wrote.
If this is a book that is supposed to de-mythologize Abbey, I have to admit, I didn't really get a sense of the man from this book.
Yet I also have to admit that the biographer did an impressive job. He clearly worked worked worked to produce this book and it is full of meticulous research. It is a book that i am glad someone invested the time and energy to produce.
January 3, 2014
I think Ed Abbey was the only writer I ever bought every single book written by. I was also happy to finally meet Ed at a book signing in Boston in 1989, not long before he unfortunately died at too early an age. He was a wonderful and entertaining guide through the deserts and mountains of the southwestern U.S., as well as other spots around the world, in addition to being a novelist. I think his fantastic sense of humor was always the most underrated thing about him and his writing. He was simply hilarious much of the time. A lot of people are quick to categorize him as a "nature writer" but he was much more than that. He wrote about LIFE. (Oh yes, and Mr. Cahalan's biography of Ed was very good too!)
July 22, 2009
Though this book was very informative, it didn't "flow." Probably too much information and too many references. I found it somewhat interesting because I loved Abbey's Desert Solitaire, and have spent time the last 5 summers in Moab, Utah, where Abbey is a local hero. The last 2 years we've rented a house just outside of town right across the road from one of Abbey's best buddies, Ken Sleight (Ken used to own this house), and across the road from Abbey's 4th wife out of 5 (she lives on Abbey Road). Unless you have a great interest in all the gory details of Abbey's many many affairs, etc., I'd suggest just reading his books.
April 8, 2009
Was this curmudgeon bipolar? He certainly had a protracted youth. His writing is entertaining, even beautiful. He was the epitomey of the American starving artist with an attitude. James Cahalan was fair, and unrelenting in his pursuit of Abbey's life and the sources are well documented. This will become the definitive work on Abbey, author of The Monkey Wrench Gang and Desert Solitaire. Of course, Abbey's list of writings is very lengthy.
September 21, 2010
Well written and researched (I think). At first I was disheartened that he was not the perfect man (: and the myth of him is revealed as just that in many ways in this book. But, of course we are all imperfect and ultimately this made him more real for me and I still admire his commitment to enviromental issues, his vocabulary, entertaining storytelling style and more. He is still one of my heroes.
February 16, 2015
This is a competent but prosaic biography. At times it reads like a mere record of monthly occurrences. And besides presenting an impressive array of information about Abbey's personal and professional life, the insight Cahalan offers tends to be moralistic in tone -- especially with respect to Abbey's love life, which is invoked constantly. Still, a solid overview of a fascinating, raucously passionate life.
April 1, 2013
Scholarly treatment of Ed's bio. It's a little dry, but densely packed with facts about Ed's life. I'm cited as a source on page 289 for information on Seldom Seen Slim of Ballarat/Death Valley fame. Cahalan seems convinced that was where Ed got the character name for Seldom in The Monkey Wrench Gang.
April 17, 2012
Droll and uninteresting. The author's obsession with the fact that Ed took literary license about being from "Home" went on and on. I put the book down without finishing it, which is extremely unusual for me.
February 4, 2013
This book was what I wanted it to be: iconoclastic. Other Abbey Biographies could be read more as tributes, but the author of this this really did his research and shows us the real Cactus Ed. It is a bit info heavy at times, so be warned!
Read
January 31, 2020Dammit, some books I hate finishing—wishing, knowing there could be much more written. To me this is one of those few books. It goes deep and the subject of Ed just grips. Wish the editor(s) had given Cahalan more pages.
I’ve only read about a third of Abbey’s books, so onward I’ll go.
I’ve only read about a third of Abbey’s books, so onward I’ll go.
January 28, 2008
I usually can't handle biographies, but I liked this one quite a bit. After all, if you like Edward Abbey's books there's a good chance you'll enjoy reading about him as well.
Currently Reading
February 18, 2008this book is really hard to get through...very dry, but it's been 8 mos+ and I'm still trying..
January 14, 2010
This book is a bibliographer's dream! Cahalan is favorable toward his subject, without being reverential or cloying.
September 28, 2015
Superb. Well written and balanced. Glad I read it. A must for any Abbey fans.
March 27, 2014
A good solid biography of Ed Abbey's career and life, from an unbiased source.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews