Adventures with Ed: A Portrait of Abbey
Hard on the heels of James Cahalan's Edward Abbey: A Life (LJ 10/15/01) comes this more personal reminiscence by one of author and environmental activist Abbey's closest friends. The book is part biography and part memoir, and it is the latter aspect that makes it of special interest. Loeffler and Abbey (1927-89) spent countless days together, hiking, camping, drinking beer, and talking about the natural beauty of the West and how it was being despoiled by industry and government. It is these long conversations, and the friends' adventures in Mexico and the Western landscape, that energize the second half of the book. Moments of high hilarity alternate with moving scenes from Abbey's life and final days, ending with Loeffler's secret burial of Abbey in the desert they both loved so much. Readers will want to skip the countless sections on anarchism and the diatribes against the industrial-military complex. Though Loeffler's portrait lacks the shades of gray found in Cahalan's biography, this book is highly recommended for Abbey's fans and for larger public library collections. Morris Hounion, N.Y.C. Technical Coll. Lib., CUNYCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.