Ocean Book of the Month Each month in 2007, The Ocean Project will highlight a book focused on our blue planet or environmental sustainability. Books for all age groups will be covered, non-fiction and fiction, prose and poetry. If you have a suggestion, please let us know.
This month, dive into another classic work that captures the passionate emotions behind the environmentalist movement and speaks to the leader in all of us. This fictional masterpiece is the work that raised writer Edward Abbey to the status of cult hero. Simultaneously inspirational, controversial, entertaining, poetic, and philosophical, let this surreal yet powerful novel inspire the inner activist in you. The Monkey Wrench Gang follows the adventures of four misfits with a passion for the environment as they work to halt the destruction being forced on the beautiful landscapes of the southwestern United States through pollution and the imposition of civilization on places that were meant to be kept wild. The eccentric “gang” consists of a recently returned Vietnam veteran, a Mormon river guide, a financially stable aging surgeon, and a beautiful displaced urbanite. They quickly band together to defend the land that they hold dear from those who would destroy it for greed. This book was praised for its style, wit, and painstakingly beautiful depictions of the landscapes of America’s deserts, and criticized for its true-to-life descriptions of environmentally-motivated sabotage. The gang regards as its enemy anyone who seeks to develop the American Southwest by destroying the land, polluting the air, and hoarding and poisoning the water. Retaliation is swift and decisive. Abbey is no “bleeding-heart liberal,” either, as anyone who seeks to commercialize the land is under attack. Abbey favors those who live off the land in a respectful manner, and his disdain for people who stop just long enough to take a picture without ever exploring the world around them is clearly evident. His characters are not the crunchy, hippie, granola stereotypes often assumed in this type of work. Abbey’s gang eats red meat, curses, drinks beer, and carries weapons. Despite their lawbreaking ways, the characters clearly love the land and have only the best interests in mind. Their quarrel is pointedly not with the workers whose job it is to run the various operations they destroy, but with the founders and investors of these companies. Edward Abbey’s fictional imagining of revenge on those who hurt our fast-dwindling natural areas serves as a means to vicariously live out fantasiesof righting the wrongs that our planet has suffered on a wide scale. This timeless novel reminds us of the hidden potential that lies within us all. This month, get inspired by Edward Abbey and channel your concerns with the state of the environment into something proactive that will help our ocean. Unleash your inner activist and take a stand!
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Images: © 2007 Wolcott Henry