"The announcement of a new Abbey book, whether essays or fiction, stirs a personal craving no other current American writer can satisfy." –Los Angeles Book Review
"Abbey was a true independent, a self-declared extremist and 'desert mystic, ' and a hell of a good writer. . . . John Macrae has wisely chosen to organize these outstanding essays, travel pieces, and works of fiction to parallel events in Abbey's unusual life." –
Booklist "A record as important and lovely as Muir's and Thoreau's." –
William McKibben, author of The End of Nature "A splendid summary of his best work. . . . Anyone who doesn't already know his work will find this volume, culled from more than a dozen books of fiction and nonfiction, an addictive introduction." –
Publishers Weekly "Abbey was many things as a writer, and his longtime editor, John Macrae, has put together a collection which follows the course of Abbey's life through his own work. It is a clever way to anthologize a talent who is impossible to pigeonhole. . . . A fine introduction to a writer who seems certain to endure and is, undeniably, an American original." –
Geoffrey Norman, American Way "Abbey's work is a kind of blessed voice in the wilderness any way you take it, and a precious figure in our lethal time." –
W.S. Merwin "
The Serpents of Paradise is without question the best Abbey reader." –
David Petersen, editor of Confessions of a Barbarian: Selections from the Journals of Edward Abbey, 1951-1989