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Adventures with Ed: A Portrait of Abbey
No writer has had a greater influence on the American West than Edward Abbey (1927-89), author of twenty-one books of fiction and nonfiction. This long-awaited biographical memoir by one of Abbey's closest friends is a tribute to the gadfly anarchist who popularized environmental activism in his novel The Monkey Wrench Gang and articulated the spirit of the arid West in Desert Solitaire and scores of other essays and articles. In the course of a twenty-year friendship Ed Abbey and Jack Loeffler shared hundreds of campfires, hiked thousands of miles, and talked endlessly about the meaning of life. To read Loeffler's account of his best pal's life and work is to join in their friendship. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Abbey came west to attend the University of New Mexico on the G.I. Bill. His natural inclination toward anarchism led him to study philosophy, but after earning an M.A. he rejected academic life and worked off and on for years as a backcountry ranger and fire lookout around the Southwest. His 1956 novel The Brave Cowboy launched his literary career, and by the 1970s he was recognized as an important, uniquely American voice. Abbey used his talents to protest against the mining and development of the American West. By the time of his death he had become an idol to environmentalists, writers, and free spirits all over the West. "Ed Abbey and Jack Loeffler were like Don Quijote and Sancho Panza. Loeffler delivers his friend, warts and all on a platter full of reverence and irreverence and carefully researched factual information, interspersed with hearty laughter and much serious consideration of all life's Great Questions. Jack's story elucidates and demythifies the Abbey legend, giving us powerful flesh and blood instead."--John Nichols
308 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 10, 2014
I knew going into this book that the author, Jack Loeffler, was Abbey's friend. It became clear after reading Adventures with Ed just how close of a friend Loeffler was to him. I mean these two guys seemed to spend a considerable amount of time hiking, drinking beer, and discussing the meaning of life. And without a doubt, it's reflected in the second half of the book.
The first part serves as a solid biography of Abbey's childhood, short tour in the military during WWII, academic wanderings, and general carousing around for women. Loeffler does his homework and provides key points along the way that help the reader understand how Abbey's early searching shaped his philosophy. Abbey's strong embrace of anarchism, for instance, rooted early and grew stronger during his UNM days.
The last half of the book, or the post-meeting-Jack Loeffler period is an intimate look at Abbey the writer and friend. Loeffler's fondness for Abbey is strong and comes through on these pages. The reader gets to tag around with Jack and Ed on a number of extended outings into the high-desert wilderness.
Overall, Loeffler provides a unique, insider's portrayal of one of the most out-spoken and influential writers on protecting and embracing the wild characteristics of our nature world.
The first part serves as a solid biography of Abbey's childhood, short tour in the military during WWII, academic wanderings, and general carousing around for women. Loeffler does his homework and provides key points along the way that help the reader understand how Abbey's early searching shaped his philosophy. Abbey's strong embrace of anarchism, for instance, rooted early and grew stronger during his UNM days.
The last half of the book, or the post-meeting-Jack Loeffler period is an intimate look at Abbey the writer and friend. Loeffler's fondness for Abbey is strong and comes through on these pages. The reader gets to tag around with Jack and Ed on a number of extended outings into the high-desert wilderness.
Overall, Loeffler provides a unique, insider's portrayal of one of the most out-spoken and influential writers on protecting and embracing the wild characteristics of our nature world.
April 1, 2013
Some people didn't like the fact that Jack includes quoted dialog between he and Ed. I thought it added so much to the feeling of intimacy that pervades the whole book.
December 17, 2013
This is Loeffler's personal story of being a close friend with Edward Abbey. Loeffler is apparently one of the people along with Doug Peacock and Ed's family to bury Cactus Ed.
I liked the family "portrait" and the additional photos of Ed and his family. They also jibed with Ed's own version with The Fool's Progress and other books about Ed and his life. It's a very nice adjunct to Abbey's writings. It does leave a few, likely less important stories out. While I never met Abbey, other friends have, including published interviews. The spouses of those friends on the other hand were less impressed with Cactus Ed. One has to balance one's likes and dislikes (handle paradox, something that Abbey knew). One particularly recall him simply as a jerk.
To read and appreciate Loeffler, you had to read most of Abbey's collection. I'm surprised that Abbey died so close after finishing Hayduke Lives!. Ed was admittedly a little more cowardly that he would likely otherwise admit. But that didn't stop him from eco-tage.
Abbey is an acquired "Western" taste. He's a non-Sagebrush rebellioner (anarchist) who has his own consistency (he was an East Coast transplant). He was also probably ahead of his time being still considerably influenced by the Eastern (US) trade of philosophy. We probably shared a certain dislike of Gary Snyder (not completely). Abbey was too concern about how people on the East coast thought of him (which was likely a sign of his time).
This is the first book of Loeffler's that I've read, and I can't recall which of the National Parks I happened to see this book (it was not Arches). The index could have been better done. Abbey's two sons did see him before he died, and they were not properly referenced in the index. This book is a nice addition to other Abbey books, but it won't replace Ed.
I liked the family "portrait" and the additional photos of Ed and his family. They also jibed with Ed's own version with The Fool's Progress and other books about Ed and his life. It's a very nice adjunct to Abbey's writings. It does leave a few, likely less important stories out. While I never met Abbey, other friends have, including published interviews. The spouses of those friends on the other hand were less impressed with Cactus Ed. One has to balance one's likes and dislikes (handle paradox, something that Abbey knew). One particularly recall him simply as a jerk.
To read and appreciate Loeffler, you had to read most of Abbey's collection. I'm surprised that Abbey died so close after finishing Hayduke Lives!. Ed was admittedly a little more cowardly that he would likely otherwise admit. But that didn't stop him from eco-tage.
Abbey is an acquired "Western" taste. He's a non-Sagebrush rebellioner (anarchist) who has his own consistency (he was an East Coast transplant). He was also probably ahead of his time being still considerably influenced by the Eastern (US) trade of philosophy. We probably shared a certain dislike of Gary Snyder (not completely). Abbey was too concern about how people on the East coast thought of him (which was likely a sign of his time).
This is the first book of Loeffler's that I've read, and I can't recall which of the National Parks I happened to see this book (it was not Arches). The index could have been better done. Abbey's two sons did see him before he died, and they were not properly referenced in the index. This book is a nice addition to other Abbey books, but it won't replace Ed.
June 15, 2008
a biography of abbey written by jack loeffler, one of ed's lifelong friends. from his youth in western pennsylvania to his final days in the southwest, loeffler aptly chronicles the years of cactus ed's life. the prose is well-crafted and the tremendous admiration, respect, and love loeffler had for abbey is quite evident. while abbey's legend, like most, is a patchy mix of fact and fantasy, this biography portrays ed in all his unadulterated rawness. he was seemingly a man of many conflicting emotions, though his loyalties never wavered. erroneously described by others as ornery, loeffler reveals abbey's limitless compassion, humanity and commitment to truth. a fine book about one of our finest writers.
October 23, 2012
Loefller delivers a biography / memoir of environmental anarchist Edward Abbey's life http://www.abbeyweb.net/ The author and Abbey were drinking buddies, camping mates, and hiking partners for over 20 years. An ethnomusicologist and radio producer, Loeffler provides intimate details of his famous best-friend's life and does not gloss over Abbey's faults or complexities. In Abbey's words, "follow the truth no matter where it leads" - - this is a must-read for Abbey fans. (lj)
July 15, 2013
a great reflection from someone who knew him. Abbey's last days were especially touching.
January 19, 2023
“He walked across the desert at least a thousand times,” Tom Russell sang of Abbey in his “Ballad” thereof. Jack Loeffler was with him many of those times, as the two friends drank one another’s beer and amused one another around many a camp fire with both inane chatter and provoking political discussion. In Adventures with Ed, Loeffler offers a remembrance of Abbey’s life that is largely biographical, but is also interwoven with Loeffler’s own commentary on the issues that drove both men — chiefly, the ongoing destruction of the west and the growing unsustainability of industrial society. It reccommends itself easily to any fan of Abbey.
I was astonished when reading Postcards from Ed to see a shot of Abbey in military uniform, as a military policeman no less: both a cop and a soldier? Seemed an unlikely start for a man who was so anti-establishment, but one can’t argue with the draft. (Well, one can. Abbey did in his Brave Cowboy, with one of his characters denouncing it as nothing less than slavery.) Adventures with Ed demonstrates that his lean frame carried many surprises: we all have a history, and it’s usually more interesting than our even our friends give us credit for, let alone our enemies who reduce us to stereotypes. We meet Ed as a young man on a hard-scrabble farm in the Appalachians, fathered by a man who was interesting in his own right, a rural intellectual who favored Eugene Debs and introduced his son to both classical music and rabbit hunting. The familiar story of Abbey emerges here — a young man of adventure, hitchhiking across the United States and then falling in love with the West, there to live the rest of his life. There are the surprising interruptions, though; his being drafted into the Army, and serving in Italy; his frequent moves back and forth between the West and larger cities, usually because he was married at the time; his array of occupations, which astonishingly included welfare agent, both to New York City’s urban poor and to the West’s native Americans. One can easily imagine Cactus Ed in a fire watchtower, or even tending a bar in Taos, living in a commune with other political radicals and artists. It’s a much harder sell to think of him approaching shoddy apartments and adobe houses, clipboard in hand, dutifully generating data and reports. Both fed who he was, though, as he bore witness to what the machine-state did to both the land and to the men who were caught in its clutches — or at least, carried in its wake.
Adventures with Ed offers a myriad of said adventures; Loeffler and Abbey wandered the landscape of the Southwest many times together, camping for days at a time under endless skies. They both saw what was happening to the landscape; the plundering of mines, the creation of roads and railroads at public expense for the benefit of a few corporations. They got into danger more than a few times, either when their outdoors explorations got out of hand, or they ran into corrupt police officers with a side hustle of banditry in Mexico. The latter was particularly harrowing, as they had their wives and children with them — and only one little pistol. The adventures were also intellectual, as the two both read broadly, thought deeply, and argued often. Through Loeffler’s eyes, we see Abbey developing his ideas about anarchism and ‘eco-defense’, in which he defended his frequent destruction or sabotage of private property (billboards, bulldozers, etc) by comparing it to a man defending his home from an invasive brigand. To Abbey, the open lands of the West belonged to everyone — including the coyotes and the rocks, and should not be parceled out by developers to poison Indians with uranium mining or the water table below and skies above. They altered in their opinions as they argued with one another, and over the years: Abbey came to the West idolizing cowboys, but quickly grew to view the ranchers using ‘public lands’ for ranging as the crummiest of parasites, who were destroying Western grasslands directly, and undermining its native population of elk and antelope.
I suppose Abbey appeals to me in part because of his contradictions; his avowed anarchism, yet his desire to see the state check the very corporations that own it; his earthy roots and intense interest in celebrating the working man, yet his appreciation for ‘highbrow’ classical music and for intellectual and philosophical debate; his competing desires to roam the land wild and free, and yet enjoy the fruits of a quiet domestic life — his love for his wives and his reliable tendency to go philandering, at least until he grew older and his libido cooled slightly. He certainly had his flaws and interior contradictions, but he was intensely authentic and never boring. Although I was familiar with Abbey as philosopher and activist, Adventures will be remembered as a favorite for delivering an image of him as a friend, father, and devoted-if-often-distracted husband.
Related:
I was astonished when reading Postcards from Ed to see a shot of Abbey in military uniform, as a military policeman no less: both a cop and a soldier? Seemed an unlikely start for a man who was so anti-establishment, but one can’t argue with the draft. (Well, one can. Abbey did in his Brave Cowboy, with one of his characters denouncing it as nothing less than slavery.) Adventures with Ed demonstrates that his lean frame carried many surprises: we all have a history, and it’s usually more interesting than our even our friends give us credit for, let alone our enemies who reduce us to stereotypes. We meet Ed as a young man on a hard-scrabble farm in the Appalachians, fathered by a man who was interesting in his own right, a rural intellectual who favored Eugene Debs and introduced his son to both classical music and rabbit hunting. The familiar story of Abbey emerges here — a young man of adventure, hitchhiking across the United States and then falling in love with the West, there to live the rest of his life. There are the surprising interruptions, though; his being drafted into the Army, and serving in Italy; his frequent moves back and forth between the West and larger cities, usually because he was married at the time; his array of occupations, which astonishingly included welfare agent, both to New York City’s urban poor and to the West’s native Americans. One can easily imagine Cactus Ed in a fire watchtower, or even tending a bar in Taos, living in a commune with other political radicals and artists. It’s a much harder sell to think of him approaching shoddy apartments and adobe houses, clipboard in hand, dutifully generating data and reports. Both fed who he was, though, as he bore witness to what the machine-state did to both the land and to the men who were caught in its clutches — or at least, carried in its wake.
Adventures with Ed offers a myriad of said adventures; Loeffler and Abbey wandered the landscape of the Southwest many times together, camping for days at a time under endless skies. They both saw what was happening to the landscape; the plundering of mines, the creation of roads and railroads at public expense for the benefit of a few corporations. They got into danger more than a few times, either when their outdoors explorations got out of hand, or they ran into corrupt police officers with a side hustle of banditry in Mexico. The latter was particularly harrowing, as they had their wives and children with them — and only one little pistol. The adventures were also intellectual, as the two both read broadly, thought deeply, and argued often. Through Loeffler’s eyes, we see Abbey developing his ideas about anarchism and ‘eco-defense’, in which he defended his frequent destruction or sabotage of private property (billboards, bulldozers, etc) by comparing it to a man defending his home from an invasive brigand. To Abbey, the open lands of the West belonged to everyone — including the coyotes and the rocks, and should not be parceled out by developers to poison Indians with uranium mining or the water table below and skies above. They altered in their opinions as they argued with one another, and over the years: Abbey came to the West idolizing cowboys, but quickly grew to view the ranchers using ‘public lands’ for ranging as the crummiest of parasites, who were destroying Western grasslands directly, and undermining its native population of elk and antelope.
I suppose Abbey appeals to me in part because of his contradictions; his avowed anarchism, yet his desire to see the state check the very corporations that own it; his earthy roots and intense interest in celebrating the working man, yet his appreciation for ‘highbrow’ classical music and for intellectual and philosophical debate; his competing desires to roam the land wild and free, and yet enjoy the fruits of a quiet domestic life — his love for his wives and his reliable tendency to go philandering, at least until he grew older and his libido cooled slightly. He certainly had his flaws and interior contradictions, but he was intensely authentic and never boring. Although I was familiar with Abbey as philosopher and activist, Adventures will be remembered as a favorite for delivering an image of him as a friend, father, and devoted-if-often-distracted husband.
Related:
July 21, 2021
The special operative suggested Desert Solitaire, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I discovered Loeffler’s book while reading an NYT article about Abbey. Many mysteries were revealed. Adventures with Ed is really two books. Part I is basically a biography with specific quotes included from Abbey. Part II was the actual memoir about Loeffler’s friendship and adventures with Abbey during the second half of Abbey’s life. It is true that Abbey was anti-monogamy with many of his wives and also true that he could harbor some questionable social views that were borderline racist and repulsive. However, he seemed to change and finally embrace monogamy with Clarke, wife #5. My impression is that, even with his flaws he was the real deal: a true anarchist in the best possible sense. A man in love with nature and someone who knew his faults and battled with regret and depression over some of the more unsavory decisions he’d made in his life. The dialogue Loeffler includes from their journeys together hiking/camping/exploring the southwest were funny, touching, and truly a snapshot of a deep, meaningful friendship that anyone would be proud to possess. I almost shed a tear when reading over Abbey’s final days. Very tough to read. He was flawed, but his contributions to literature and his unique perspective on the world are revealed in this book. Hats off to Loeffler for writing a phenomenal tribute to his friend Abbey.
January 9, 2025
A unique and personal take on the famous anarchist/environmentalist that proves him to be neither, just a free spirited writer that loved nature and women.
May 13, 2007
I have been a fan of Ed Abbey's writing and his anarchist attitude about preserving the natural world. This book provides a good look at the life of this man - warts and all as observed by a close friend.
September 27, 2012
Loeffler writes from deep friendship. Clearly, he mourns the loss of his friend, and this work is his eulogy.
March 10, 2012
A decent biography of Ed Abbey, some fun tales not read in Ed's books. Some insight into his wanderings from an outside source.
April 1, 2013
Exceptional companion to Desert Solitaire.
May 11, 2015
It's about Cactus Ed by someone who knows. 'Nuff said.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews