Desert Solitaire
“Wilderness. The word itself is music.”
“A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled surfaces. We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may never need to set foot in it. We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope; without it the life of the cities would drive all men into crime or drugs or psychoanalysis.”
In Desert Solitaire Edward Abbey, the author of the iconic novel The Monkey Wrench Gang (about the shenanigans of anarchist environmentalists as they battle industrial development) reflects on his time as a ranger throughout three seasons in Arches National Park in southeastern Utah. With a writing voice that’s both beautiful and fiery in turns, he details the hardships and rewards of living in “nature in its purest form.” Desert Solitaire is also an impassioned call to nature-lovers to protect such places from being exploited by oil, mining, and tourism industries.