The Monkey Wrench Gang

By Edward Abbey. He's often compared to Thoreau, and one of his mottos was taken from Emerson: "resist much, obey little." While Abbey has much in common with the forefathers of environmental conservation, he certainly took it a few giant steps further. Abbey and his MONKEY WRENCH GANG are often credited with germination the seeds of the eco-sabotage movement (including Earth First!). This is the story of four rugged individuals in the American West, witnesses to the destruction of a pristine landscape, who will do whatever it takes to halt the devouring mechanism that is corporate and governmental greed. This uproarious and cleverly written classic will, in turns, make you seethe with anger, hold your breath in anticipation, and laugh out loud. In more ways than one, it's a truly incendiary tale.

"A sad, hilarious, exuberant, vulgar fairy tale...it'll make you want to go out and blow up a dam" -- The National Observer

"Since the publication of the The Monkey Wrench Gang, Mr. Abbey has become an underground cult hero." -- The New York Times

"One of the very best writers to deal with the American west." -- The Washington Post

"A real romp" -- Saturday Review

"Ribald, outrageous and, in fact, scandalous" -- Smithsonian

"The Monkey Wrench Gang is a laconic comedy played out in a vast open space Abbey loves an knows well" -- Newsweek

"Mixes comedy and chaos with enough chase sequences to leave you hungering for more." -- San Fransisco Examiner & Chronicle

"Edward Abbey is a writer one would not want to miss." -- The Washington Post

"It's a wildly funny, infinitely wise, near to tragic tale of man against the big god machine -- man against concrete, steel, man-made lakes and parking-lot wastelands. Flawlessly constructed, imaginatively detailed, faultlessly crafted with every effect looped to its matching cause, it's a scriptwriter's dream. What a thing of beauty is Edward Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang." -- Houston Chronicle