Fire on the Mountain (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)

“The Thoreau of the American West.”
—Larry McMurty, author of Lonesome Dove

“Abbey is a fresh breath from the father reaches and canyons of the diminishing frontier.”
—Houston Chronicle

“One of the very best writers to deal with the American West.”
—Washington Post

A half-century after its original publication, Edward Abbeys classic 1962 novel, Fire on the Mountain, still retains its beauty, power, and relevance. Now with a new introduction by New York Times bestseller Douglas Brinkley (The Wilderness Warrior, Walter Cronkite), this extraordinary tale by the legendary icon of the environmentalism movement and author of The Monkey Wrench Gang proudly celebrates rugged American individualism, as it tells the story of one tough old loners stand against the combined, well-armed forces of government that are determined to clear him from his land

Edward Abbey was a hero to environmentalists and rebels of every stripe. With Fire on the Mountain, this literary giant of the New West gave readers a powerful, moving, and enduring tale that gloriously celebrates the undying spirit of American individualism. This fiftieth anniversary edition, with an introduction by historian Douglas Brinkley, reminds readers of Abbey's powerful conviction that "a patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."

John Vogelin's land is his life—a barren stretch of New Mexican wilderness mercifully bypassed by civilization. Then the government moves in. And suddenly the elderly, mule-stubborn rancher is confronting the combined land-grabbing greed of the county sheriff, the Department of the Interior, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the U.S. Air Force. But a tough old man is like a mountain lion: if you back him into a corner, he'll come out fighting.

Edward Abbey spent most of his life in the American Southwest. The author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including the much celebrated Desert Solitaire, which decried the waste of America's wilderness, Abbey was one of the country's foremost defenders of the natural environment. He died in 1989.