He also wrote a science fiction novel called Good News. This was his most controversial novel because it was about four people using sabotage to stop development in the Southwest. His next novel after that was The Monkey Wrench Gang. His next novel was Black Sun, which is about a fire lookout at the Grand Canyon falling in love but then seeing his girlfriend disappear. Some of these include The Journey Home, Abbey's Road, Down the River, Beyond the Wall, and One Life At a Time, Please. He worked as a fire lookout at the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and as a park ranger in other National Parks.Īfter Desert Solitaire became a bestseller, he wrote several books of nature essays.

He also took other jobs in the Southwest. Desert Solitaire became a bestseller and made him a popular nature writer. He wrote about his job as a park ranger in his fourth book, Desert Solitaire. He moved to New Jersey for a short time but did not like it, and moved back to the Southwest. The Brave Cowboy and Fire on the Mountain are about cowboys who loved the old American West and did not like it becoming modernized. It was also made into a movie called Lonely are the Brave. This book sold better and made him known as a writer of western fiction. It did not sell well and Abbey did not like it very much, and it was taken out of print. Then he started writing books.Ībbey's first book was titled Jonathan Troy. When he came back to the United States, he moved to New Mexico and got a college degree. He enlisted near the end of World War II and was stationed in Italy as a military policeman. During his trip through Arizona and New Mexico, he fell in love with the Southwest. He took a trip hitchhiking to see the American West. Most of his books are about the Southwest.ĭuring World War II, he was in high school. He spent most of his adult life in the states of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.

He later moved to the American Southwest and wrote several books. He grew up in Pennsylvania, in a small town in the mountains near the city of Pittsburgh. He was born in the state of Pennsylvania in the United States in 1927. He is known for books including Desert Solitaire, Black Sun, The Journey Home, The Fool's Progress, and Hayduke Lives.Įarly life and education Edward Paul Abbey (Janu– March 14, 1989) was an American nature writer.

Black Sun by Edward Abbey