Ed Abbey called The Monkey Wrench Gang, his 1975 novel, a "comic extravaganza." Some readers have remarked that the book is more a comic book than a real novel, and it's true that reading this incendiary call to protect the American wilderness requires more than a little of the old willing suspension of disbelief. The story centers on Vietnam veteran George Washington Hayduke III, who returns to the desert to find his beloved canyons and rivers threatened by industrial development. On a rafting trip down the Colorado River, Hayduke joins forces with feminist saboteur Bonnie Abbzug, wilderness guide Seldom Seen Smith, and billboard torcher Doc Sarvis, M.D., and together they wander off to wage war on the big yellow machines, on dam builders and road builders and strip miners. As they do, his characters voice Abbey's concerns about wilderness preservation ("Hell of a place to lose a cow," Smith thinks to himself while roaming through the canyonlands of southern Utah. "Hell of a place to lose your heart. Hell of a place... to lose. Period"). Moving from one improbable situation to the next, packing more adventure into the space of a few weeks than most real people do in a lifetime, the motley gang puts fear into the hearts of their enemies, laughing all the while. It's comic, yes, and required reading for anyone who has come to love the desert. --Gregory McNamee

ANNOTATION

The backlist bestselling underground cult classic that raised American consciousness of environmentalism, reissued in a trade paperback edition. When a gang of renegades sets forth on their mission to destroy the power lines, new road and bridges springing up across their cherished desert, all hell breaks loose.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"And just what the hell are they planning next?"

The bridge, bedecked with bunting, steamers and Day-Glo banners, was ready. the throng prepared to unloose a cheer or two. Suddenly the center of the bridge rose up and broke in two along a jagged zigzag line. A sheet of read flame streamed skyward...

"This is their last stunt, Governor. We're on their tail, sir. We have a good idea who they are, how they poerate, and what they're planning next."

FROM THE CRITICS

Smithsonian

Ribald, outrageous and, in fact, scandalous.

Newsweek

The Monkey Wrench Gang is a laconicI comedy played out in a vast open space Abbey loves and knows well.

Saturday Review

A Real romp

San Francisco Chronicle

Mixes comedy and chaos with enough chase sequences to leave you hungering for more.

San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle

Mixes Comedy and Chaos with enoughchase sequences to leave you hungering for more. Read all 10 "From The Critics" >

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING