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Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast
“But hell, I do like to write letters. Much easier than writing books.” And write letters Ed Abbey did. In his famous — or infamous — 45-year career, Abbey’s cards and letters became as legendary as his books for their wit, vitriol, and ability to speak truth to power. Published here for the first time, the letters offer a fascinating, often hilarious glimpse into the mind of one of America’s most iconoclastic and beloved authors. No subject was too banal, too arcane, or too deep for Abbey to expound on: sex, cheerleaders, Mormons, Aspen, and the Bond girls are covered as gleefully as Stegner, Dylan, Chomsky, Buddhism, and betrayal. Whether scolding an editor to simplify (“I’ve had to waste hours erasing that storm of fly-shit on the typescript”) or skewering the chicken-hawk proponents of the war in Vietnam, Abbey’s righteous indignation gives hope and inspiration to a generation that desperately needs both.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published August 23, 2006
15 people are currently reading
293 people want to read
About the author
Edward Abbey
77 books2,073 followersEdward Paul Abbey (1927–1989) was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views.
Abbey attended college in New Mexico and then worked as a park ranger and fire lookout for the National Park Service in the Southwest. It was during this time that he developed the relationship with the area’s environment that influenced his writing. During his service, he was in close proximity to the ruins of ancient Native American cultures and saw the expansion and destruction of modern civilization.
His love for nature and extreme distrust of the industrial world influenced much of his work and helped garner a cult following.
Abbey died on March 14, 1989, due to complications from surgery. He was buried as he had requested: in a sleeping bag—no embalming fluid, no casket. His body was secretly interred in an unmarked grave in southern Arizona.
Abbey attended college in New Mexico and then worked as a park ranger and fire lookout for the National Park Service in the Southwest. It was during this time that he developed the relationship with the area’s environment that influenced his writing. During his service, he was in close proximity to the ruins of ancient Native American cultures and saw the expansion and destruction of modern civilization.
His love for nature and extreme distrust of the industrial world influenced much of his work and helped garner a cult following.
Abbey died on March 14, 1989, due to complications from surgery. He was buried as he had requested: in a sleeping bag—no embalming fluid, no casket. His body was secretly interred in an unmarked grave in southern Arizona.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
December 30, 2022
Although I was first drawn to Ed Abbey by his nature writing, over the years I’ve become more fascinated with Abbey as a person. Books like Obey Little, Resist Much demonstrated how complex a man he was – one impossible to pigeonhole, accused of being a reactionary from some quarters and a tree hugger from others. Postcards from Ed, incorporating nearly four decades of his personal and public letters, puts this genuine American character squarely center-stage, where readers can grow to know him better. It’s less of a book and more of a visit with a friend, seeing him through moods of bliss and melancholy, of passionate work and even more impassioned philosophizing under the stars.
When I first read Desert Solitaire, knowing nothing of Abbey beyond his name, I made the same mistake most who read a little bit of Abbey do: I immediately sorted him into a convenient box, that of the Environmentalist. “Thoreau in the desert,” I decided. (That was a two-part mistake, for I later realized that Thoreau, too, was too unique a character for a slapdash label to stick to easily.) The more I read of Abbey, the more varied I discovered his work was – and the more interesting. His central subject was not The Environment, or even the western wilderness that Abbey loved, defended in words and action – but rather, the fate of man and nature in the hands of the techno-industrial machine. In this he’s more like Kaczynski than Thoreau, though much more fun to be around, and much less dangerous to receive mail from. On that subject, Postcards is a curated collection of letters and postcards, sent from various spots in Arizona and Utah, and largely originating in the 1970s and 1980s. They’re a good mix of personal letters, which themselves range from philosophical reflections to accounts of recent hikes in the wilderness, and more publicly-oriented missives, in which Abbey writes presidents, governors, and letters to the editor. A few from Abbey’s early years are included, but most from this period were lost to disaster. That’s a shame, since the late teens and early twenties are a transformative time, especially for an active thinker like Abbey, who was an irritant to the alphabet goon squads from his early twenties onward. (He began by publicly urging college men to mail their draft cards back to D.C. at a protest against both the war in Vietnam and the conscription being used to carry it out.) Good luck to the reader attempting to stick Abbey in a box; he was a man of great passion and sometimes divided opinions, calling himself an anarchist yet urging the government to do more to protect the west — cursing liberals and corporate tycoons in the same breath.
Postcards from Ed shows us the growth of a young man who journeyed West from ruined Appalachia, who arrived in time to see the canyonlands of southern Utah and its sister states come under the sights of industrial development – wherein the landscape was mined, logged, and dammed. Abbey wrote about it publicly, in books like Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang; he worked with organizations like the Sierra Club and Earth First! to raise awareness and spark resistance, and if you believe his and his friends’ claims, he actively engaged in sabotage in his numerous wilderness wanderings. To Abbey, the diversion of public money for private gain (in the creation of infrastructure that only one company would use) was offensive enough that action was warranted, but knowing that such infrastructure was enabling the plunder and ruin of a huge swath of the country made him apoplectic. Another key bugbear was the ranging of private cattle on public land, which he viewed not only as parasitical, but destructive to the west’s ecology: cattle consumed food that should have been the province of mule deer and elk. He argued this not because he was a hunter, but because he believed the creatures of the West had more a right to be there than sandal-wearing golfers who wanted a desert view from their Colorado-draining irrigated golf course. Although not a religious man, Abbey venerated the undespoiled wilderness and defended it consistently for decade after decade. Despite his melancholy over the future of that wilderness, , which seemed destined to disappear under ore mines and ticky-tacky residential developments, Abbey maintained that he was an optimist. The unsustainable, by its nature, is doomed: sooner or sooner, the growth-bubble that was industrialization civilization would pop and the likes of Tuscon and Phoenix would disappear like dust in the wind. Growth for growth’s sake is the ideology of the cancer cell, he maintained, and like a cancer reckless overdevelopment would destroy the very civilization spurring it on. He preferred that we avoid a catastrophic die-off by tapering our numbers down ,but viewed the ultimate triumph of reality as inevitable.
Postcards is a fascinating book, one that I was pained to be finished with – because we don’t just experience the jeremiad-levying Abbey, the wilderness wanderer Abbey. We find Abbey the friend, Abbey the literary critic, the doting but often firm father, the disappointed epistoler, the humorist, someone who wanted to write a novel in honor of the working men whose stock he came from. I was delighted to find him exchanging letters with Wendell Berry (one wonders what Berry’s half that correspondence entails!) and responding to articles from papers and magazines all over the country — always with a mix of temper, steely intelligent, and mocking humor. This book makes him more real — in his humor, his abrasiveness, his righteous anger, his deep wonder and profound appreciation for the wild that remained. I will count it as one of my very favorite reads from this year, and one alone in being one I had to start reading again the moment I finished it — just to spend more time with Ed. Why do such interesting men leave us soon and the bores and cads linger for decades?
When I first read Desert Solitaire, knowing nothing of Abbey beyond his name, I made the same mistake most who read a little bit of Abbey do: I immediately sorted him into a convenient box, that of the Environmentalist. “Thoreau in the desert,” I decided. (That was a two-part mistake, for I later realized that Thoreau, too, was too unique a character for a slapdash label to stick to easily.) The more I read of Abbey, the more varied I discovered his work was – and the more interesting. His central subject was not The Environment, or even the western wilderness that Abbey loved, defended in words and action – but rather, the fate of man and nature in the hands of the techno-industrial machine. In this he’s more like Kaczynski than Thoreau, though much more fun to be around, and much less dangerous to receive mail from. On that subject, Postcards is a curated collection of letters and postcards, sent from various spots in Arizona and Utah, and largely originating in the 1970s and 1980s. They’re a good mix of personal letters, which themselves range from philosophical reflections to accounts of recent hikes in the wilderness, and more publicly-oriented missives, in which Abbey writes presidents, governors, and letters to the editor. A few from Abbey’s early years are included, but most from this period were lost to disaster. That’s a shame, since the late teens and early twenties are a transformative time, especially for an active thinker like Abbey, who was an irritant to the alphabet goon squads from his early twenties onward. (He began by publicly urging college men to mail their draft cards back to D.C. at a protest against both the war in Vietnam and the conscription being used to carry it out.) Good luck to the reader attempting to stick Abbey in a box; he was a man of great passion and sometimes divided opinions, calling himself an anarchist yet urging the government to do more to protect the west — cursing liberals and corporate tycoons in the same breath.
Postcards from Ed shows us the growth of a young man who journeyed West from ruined Appalachia, who arrived in time to see the canyonlands of southern Utah and its sister states come under the sights of industrial development – wherein the landscape was mined, logged, and dammed. Abbey wrote about it publicly, in books like Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang; he worked with organizations like the Sierra Club and Earth First! to raise awareness and spark resistance, and if you believe his and his friends’ claims, he actively engaged in sabotage in his numerous wilderness wanderings. To Abbey, the diversion of public money for private gain (in the creation of infrastructure that only one company would use) was offensive enough that action was warranted, but knowing that such infrastructure was enabling the plunder and ruin of a huge swath of the country made him apoplectic. Another key bugbear was the ranging of private cattle on public land, which he viewed not only as parasitical, but destructive to the west’s ecology: cattle consumed food that should have been the province of mule deer and elk. He argued this not because he was a hunter, but because he believed the creatures of the West had more a right to be there than sandal-wearing golfers who wanted a desert view from their Colorado-draining irrigated golf course. Although not a religious man, Abbey venerated the undespoiled wilderness and defended it consistently for decade after decade. Despite his melancholy over the future of that wilderness, , which seemed destined to disappear under ore mines and ticky-tacky residential developments, Abbey maintained that he was an optimist. The unsustainable, by its nature, is doomed: sooner or sooner, the growth-bubble that was industrialization civilization would pop and the likes of Tuscon and Phoenix would disappear like dust in the wind. Growth for growth’s sake is the ideology of the cancer cell, he maintained, and like a cancer reckless overdevelopment would destroy the very civilization spurring it on. He preferred that we avoid a catastrophic die-off by tapering our numbers down ,but viewed the ultimate triumph of reality as inevitable.
Postcards is a fascinating book, one that I was pained to be finished with – because we don’t just experience the jeremiad-levying Abbey, the wilderness wanderer Abbey. We find Abbey the friend, Abbey the literary critic, the doting but often firm father, the disappointed epistoler, the humorist, someone who wanted to write a novel in honor of the working men whose stock he came from. I was delighted to find him exchanging letters with Wendell Berry (one wonders what Berry’s half that correspondence entails!) and responding to articles from papers and magazines all over the country — always with a mix of temper, steely intelligent, and mocking humor. This book makes him more real — in his humor, his abrasiveness, his righteous anger, his deep wonder and profound appreciation for the wild that remained. I will count it as one of my very favorite reads from this year, and one alone in being one I had to start reading again the moment I finished it — just to spend more time with Ed. Why do such interesting men leave us soon and the bores and cads linger for decades?
January 1, 2012
I have been fascinated by Cactus Ed since reading "Desert Solitaire" for an Environmental Ethics class in college. The only other book by Abbey that I've read is "The Monkey Wrench Gang," so I didn't know a whole lot about the man before reading this book. The only thing I was clear on was his overall views on the environment and mankind's encroachment on untouched and supposedly protected lands in the U.S. After reading this collection of letters, I now know a whole lot more about the man. The man had more layers than an onion. While many of his opinions I agree with, there were a few ideas that surprised me. I’m actually pleased at this. I like the idea that someone I admire held some ideas and opinions that I disagree with. It brings new interest to his writings.
The book opens with a letter Abbey wrote to his parents while in college. He humorously asked for money and was rather candid about his extra curricular activities. Yet his philosophical references gave away that he was actually studying. A hilarious letter to open the book with! The collection spans from his college days to the last month of his life, March 1989. It includes personal correspondence to family and friends, correspondence (both personal and professional) to colleagues, fellow writers, editors, publishers, etc., and quite a few complaint letters to book reviewers as well as a large number of letters to the editors of various newspapers and magazines. These last type of letters usually espoused Abbey's opinion on various hot button topics of the day. Many of these topics are still major points of contention in our society decades after Abbey argued about them. And oh boy was Abbey argumentative. He was also witty as hell. If Abbey were alive today, I'm sure he'd be making headlines with controversial and irreverent Twitter posts. I have yet to join Twitter myself, but if Cactus Ed were tweeting, I'd be following him for sure. I found myself reading this book with a pencil, underlining one liners and passages that I wanted to remember, quote and/or come back to later. I also found the personal insights into the publishing and writing business particularly interesting. Some may find the letters regarding business details of getting a book out to print mundane or boring. As a would-be-writer, I found these glimpses into the business fascinating.
My only complaint is in regards to the formatting. The editor chose to use end notes, rather than footnotes. I found this distracting. I would have much preferred footnotes on the bottom of the page so that I did not have to constantly flip to the end of the book to see who the recipient of the letter was or the explanation to some random reference in a letter. This disrupted the flow of reading for me. However, even that is not enough of a complaint for me to take away a star from the Goodreads rating.
Clearly Abbey was taken well before he was done. In letters from 1988, he referred often to future dates, like when he promised Robert Redford an advance copy of his last novel when it was published in 1990. It's such a shame Abbey died before he could finish what he started, both personally and professionally. After finishing this book, I’m inclined to explore more of his work. I want to read more of his fiction, nonfiction, and especially the posthumously published journal entries. I’m currently interested in desert writing, which is an underrepresented genre. Edward Abbey is definitely the perfect example of someone with great talent, writing about a region of this country he loved more than the one he was born in. It is clear that the editor was a close friend of Abbey’s by the loving and careful way the letters are presented, by the concise introductions to each year of correspondence, and by the careful explanations in the endnotes.
The book opens with a letter Abbey wrote to his parents while in college. He humorously asked for money and was rather candid about his extra curricular activities. Yet his philosophical references gave away that he was actually studying. A hilarious letter to open the book with! The collection spans from his college days to the last month of his life, March 1989. It includes personal correspondence to family and friends, correspondence (both personal and professional) to colleagues, fellow writers, editors, publishers, etc., and quite a few complaint letters to book reviewers as well as a large number of letters to the editors of various newspapers and magazines. These last type of letters usually espoused Abbey's opinion on various hot button topics of the day. Many of these topics are still major points of contention in our society decades after Abbey argued about them. And oh boy was Abbey argumentative. He was also witty as hell. If Abbey were alive today, I'm sure he'd be making headlines with controversial and irreverent Twitter posts. I have yet to join Twitter myself, but if Cactus Ed were tweeting, I'd be following him for sure. I found myself reading this book with a pencil, underlining one liners and passages that I wanted to remember, quote and/or come back to later. I also found the personal insights into the publishing and writing business particularly interesting. Some may find the letters regarding business details of getting a book out to print mundane or boring. As a would-be-writer, I found these glimpses into the business fascinating.
My only complaint is in regards to the formatting. The editor chose to use end notes, rather than footnotes. I found this distracting. I would have much preferred footnotes on the bottom of the page so that I did not have to constantly flip to the end of the book to see who the recipient of the letter was or the explanation to some random reference in a letter. This disrupted the flow of reading for me. However, even that is not enough of a complaint for me to take away a star from the Goodreads rating.
Clearly Abbey was taken well before he was done. In letters from 1988, he referred often to future dates, like when he promised Robert Redford an advance copy of his last novel when it was published in 1990. It's such a shame Abbey died before he could finish what he started, both personally and professionally. After finishing this book, I’m inclined to explore more of his work. I want to read more of his fiction, nonfiction, and especially the posthumously published journal entries. I’m currently interested in desert writing, which is an underrepresented genre. Edward Abbey is definitely the perfect example of someone with great talent, writing about a region of this country he loved more than the one he was born in. It is clear that the editor was a close friend of Abbey’s by the loving and careful way the letters are presented, by the concise introductions to each year of correspondence, and by the careful explanations in the endnotes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 3, 2020
i loved this book. i didn't always love what abbey had to say but i loved the experience of reading it anyway. i can imagine that was what knowing him was like, and this is as close as i'll get. essentially a collection of letters mailed from abbey through his life archived by the people who received them - the BLM, his friends, his parents, his editor, and every single publishing newspaper and magazine in the country. i can imagine that getting a letter of praise from ed abbey was an accomplishment for a magazine editor... and getting an angry letter of disgust even more so. reading ed abbey's unfiltered, passionate, loving, ridiculous bullshit puts him in context as a writer, a cult hero, a symbol of western freedom and anarchy and a relationship with the land. he's tremendous, prolific, hysterical, at moments transcendentally inspiring, the fiercest advocate for the preservation of natural land. he's also crass, insensitive, wildly racist and difficult. all these things are true him like they're true of the west as a place and a state of mind. i love reading ed abbey. i also love seeing people become better than him and i love knowing my politics would piss him off. i think he'd want it that way. anyway -- 5 stars, i cried a lot, i laughed at lot, i wanted to smack him a lot. cactus ed at his best and worst.
June 8, 2021
A thorny collection of postcards and letters written by Edward Abbey, the wailing avenger of the American west. Letters to the editor, and letters to other writers, family, and friends are all included here with one glaring category left out, as the editor admits: no love letters.
In these letters Abbey often confesses to having difficulty working on his novels, whereas his letters are informal and allow him to shoot from the hip on a number of topics. They land all over the place, from satire to literary criticism (he is unsparing in his opinions about contemporary writers, yet driven to distraction when the New York critics ignore his books) to free-floating bitchiness.
In these letters Abbey often confesses to having difficulty working on his novels, whereas his letters are informal and allow him to shoot from the hip on a number of topics. They land all over the place, from satire to literary criticism (he is unsparing in his opinions about contemporary writers, yet driven to distraction when the New York critics ignore his books) to free-floating bitchiness.
November 6, 2014
Ha! Edward Abbey is a cantankerous fellow, but it sure was fun to read this collection of letters from him. I like them because though I don't agree with everything, his outlook on life is pretty darn consistent, and he consistently stands up for it, and (except for the having 5 kids thing) lives his beliefs. Which I think is admirable. Internal consistency is a rare trait in people, I think, so it's nice to see it (mostly;) play out with him.
I like his cantankerism, and feel like he's the kind of dude you could disagree with and slug it out with him and still be friends afterward, so long as you were honest and could back up your beliefs. A lovely read.
I like his cantankerism, and feel like he's the kind of dude you could disagree with and slug it out with him and still be friends afterward, so long as you were honest and could back up your beliefs. A lovely read.
September 4, 2018
Pretty neat book, very good insight into his more personal beliefs. The kinda stuff that never got printed because no publisher would ever dare put out that kinda shit...
August 21, 2019
Conflicted about good ol Ed because I love his writing: however, he is misogynistic as fuck.
May 2, 2025
3.5; never meet your heroes
February 11, 2008
I'm sure that Old Abbey would be terrified, as would any writer, to find his/her letters of correspondence with friends and family published in any form. Much of this book is "stream of consciousness" writing; vulgar and humorous as per his style, it offers little insight into Abbey's life that he didn't already offer in his "official" publications.
I was more impressed by Terry Tempest Williams' Forward (which nearly made me cry while in the bookstore). I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who hasn't already fallen in love with Ed Abbey and the desert Southwest. But, if you're familiar with Ed, this collection of postcards, letters and such is an entertaining way to spend a few mornings, evenings and/or weekends.
I was more impressed by Terry Tempest Williams' Forward (which nearly made me cry while in the bookstore). I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who hasn't already fallen in love with Ed Abbey and the desert Southwest. But, if you're familiar with Ed, this collection of postcards, letters and such is an entertaining way to spend a few mornings, evenings and/or weekends.
May 23, 2011
I don't know how this book came about -- how were copies of Ed Abbey's many and numerous letters written throughout his life, to editors, to family, to friends and most hilariously to editors of newspapers and politicians -- preserved for posterity? However this came about, this book is full of amazing traces from a sharp, opinionated, passionate and intelligent mind. The best ones are when he is railing against a corporate interest or crooked politician in the name of preserving the wild Southwest desert. The weaker ones are him dealing with his messy personal life and lurking depression. "An American Iconoclast," as the subtitle proclaims, is the only way to categorize Mr. Abbey: one of kind.
January 19, 2008
the one & only...
dear mr howe: (irving howe, american academy of arts & letters, nyc, 03.20.87)
thank you for your letter of march 4th in which you inform me that i am to receive an award from the academy. i appreciate the intended honor but will not be able to attend the awards ceremony on may 20th: i'm figuring on going down a river in idaho that week. besides, to tell the truth, i think that prizes are for little boys. you can give my $5000 to somebody else. i don't need it or really want it. thanks anyhow.
yours truly, edward abbey
dear mr howe: (irving howe, american academy of arts & letters, nyc, 03.20.87)
thank you for your letter of march 4th in which you inform me that i am to receive an award from the academy. i appreciate the intended honor but will not be able to attend the awards ceremony on may 20th: i'm figuring on going down a river in idaho that week. besides, to tell the truth, i think that prizes are for little boys. you can give my $5000 to somebody else. i don't need it or really want it. thanks anyhow.
yours truly, edward abbey
May 19, 2009
Abbey's letters, published by friends after his death,
don't make me want to read his novels, but they do
win my admiration for his stubborn refusal to sign up
for anybody else's set of values. He could live with
being called a left-wing nut or a right-wing nut. But
he mourned, and cussed at, the way his friends and
enemies wouldn't answer his letters in kind. He wanted
them to really engage with him on how to keep Arizona,
for example, from ending up as a "human zoo" with very
few other animals left to look at the people.
don't make me want to read his novels, but they do
win my admiration for his stubborn refusal to sign up
for anybody else's set of values. He could live with
being called a left-wing nut or a right-wing nut. But
he mourned, and cussed at, the way his friends and
enemies wouldn't answer his letters in kind. He wanted
them to really engage with him on how to keep Arizona,
for example, from ending up as a "human zoo" with very
few other animals left to look at the people.
June 5, 2008
Man, what an SOB Edward Abbey was, and yet what a lovable SOB. Postcards and letters over the course of his life to everyone form sweethearts to famous folks, newspapers, and most fascinating to me, his ongoing letters to his editors. Even if you've never read any other Ed Abbey, you can't help but love the nature of this book.
December 6, 2010
Great collection of letters. Ed Abbey was a prolific letter composer and are fascinating to read. He used all his humor, wit, irreverency, charm, eloquence, and sensitivity and are a real insight into the man and the myth. Really interesting to see who he chose to write to- legislators of all colors, friends, buisness associates, family- etc.
November 7, 2011
I wish I had gotten to meet Ed Abbey. Reading his correspondence and his books is as close as I will get.
Was intereting to read this thoughts, struggles with his novels and books. Definitely a different side of him in his business workings.
Was intereting to read this thoughts, struggles with his novels and books. Definitely a different side of him in his business workings.
April 13, 2013
What a fun read and insight into one of the great environmental heroes. Great book to read a bit of every day to remind yourself to speak your mind, stay true to what is important and fight the good fight until you have nothing left.
April 11, 2008
A great insight to the philosopher/prophet/visionary and general all around a-hole. The intro from Terry Williams alone is worth the read.
November 7, 2008
Ed Abbey is a western "god". This book is just an interesting look into his letters written to newspapers and friend and gives the reader a more intimate look at his true personality.
December 28, 2009
Picked this up in Prescott, Arizona earlier this week and have been devouring it. Love, love, love Edward Abbey.
January 3, 2011
Unabashedly Abbey. A wonderful collection of his less informal writings.
May 22, 2011
Interesting but I wouldn't read it again.
March 3, 2012
A wonderful collection of far-ranging essays on a variety of topics and issues (the environment, the Vietnam War, life in Arizona, his past marriages, etc) that are near to the heart of Edward Abbey.
April 6, 2013
Ed Abby is Hayduke himself. I think I enjoy reading his fiction more then his actual personal letters. They make him sound so "get off my lawn"!
July 15, 2013
Very interesting thoughts and reflections. Interesting to see his correspondence and friends.
August 12, 2011
Ed, your truths are more poignant today than ever before. May peace be upon you.
Read
March 13, 2019"Postcards from Ed" is a book that will interest fans of Edward Abbey. It gives new insight into him as a "cranky old man," as he calls himself. While Abbey's beliefs range from despicable to sublime, he is nothing if not authentically himself. This book gives a more nuanced view of Abbey than one might get from his other writing.
This book is a testament not only to Abbey but to the power of letters. And Abby was a prolific letter-writer. Seeing letters to his agent explaining why he is behind in his contracted commitments interspersed with a myriad of letters to family, friends, politicians, government agencies, publications, authors, random correspondents, and more, one can see his love of writing and also the torture it sometimes causes.
Reading this book made me write a few more letters myself. And also to contemplate my own beliefs and authenticity. I find inspiration in these words from Abbey: "Refuse to participate in evil; insist on taking part in what is healthy, generous, and responsible. Stand up, speak out, and when necessary fight back. Get down off the fence and lend a hand, grab a hold, be a citizen - not a subject."
This book is a testament not only to Abbey but to the power of letters. And Abby was a prolific letter-writer. Seeing letters to his agent explaining why he is behind in his contracted commitments interspersed with a myriad of letters to family, friends, politicians, government agencies, publications, authors, random correspondents, and more, one can see his love of writing and also the torture it sometimes causes.
Reading this book made me write a few more letters myself. And also to contemplate my own beliefs and authenticity. I find inspiration in these words from Abbey: "Refuse to participate in evil; insist on taking part in what is healthy, generous, and responsible. Stand up, speak out, and when necessary fight back. Get down off the fence and lend a hand, grab a hold, be a citizen - not a subject."
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews