Happy Birthday, Monkey Wrenchers (And Ed Abbey)
By Tom Chandler on Jan 29, 2008 in Underground Entertainment, Writing
It’s the birthday of none other than Edward Abbey, who wrote the The Monkey Wrench Gang
It was released in 1975 — about the same time I started high school — and the controversy it caused immediately made it an attractive read to a teenager.
Abbey also wrote Desert Solitaire
"This is the most beautiful place on earth. There are many such places. Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary. A houseboat in Kashmir, a view down Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, a gray gothic farmhouse two stories high at the end of a red dog road in the Allegheny Mountains, a cabin on the shore of a blue lake in spruce and fir country, a greasy alley near the Hoboken waterfront, or even, possibly, for those of a less demanding sensibility, the world to be seen from a comfortable apartment high in the tender, velvety smog of Manhattan, Chicago, Paris, Tokyo, Rio or Rome - there’s no limit to the human capacity for the homing sentiment."
Everyone has their own "most beautiful place on earth" and fly fishermen are no exception, which is why some of us feel the outdoors (and the wilderness) are worth fighting for.
For the record, I’ve never Monkey Wrenched anyone’s project, but I sure as hell understand the impulse.
Abbey Quote:
"Anarchism is not a romantic fable but the hardheaded realization, based on five thousand years of experience, that we cannot entrust the management of our lives to kings, priests, politicians, generals, and county commissioners."
To Abbey’s list, the Underground would like to add the likes of Nestle, Westlands, PacifiCorp and the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors. Feel free to add your own in the comments section.
Abbey died in 1989 and his final resting place — where he was buried by his friends — remains a mystery, which is probably as it should be.
See you in the bookshelves, Tom Chandler.
Steven Jarvis | Jan 29, 2008 | Reply
A sort of junior Monkey Wrench Gang is a wonderful book called “A Heart to the Hawks” by Don Moser (also from 1975 — influenced by MWG?). Sadly, it is out of print, but you can still find used copies occasionally. It’s about a young boy in post-WWII Ohio who spends his free time in a small wood with a pond near his home that becomes threatened by development in the post-war building frenzy. While there are other coming-of-age themes (girls! with boobs!) in the novel, the boy learns a lot about monkey-wrenching and how maybe it’s not the best method of protest.
This book instilled in me a love of the outdoors and a desire to protect it as well as anything else in my life. I didn’t encounter Abbey’s books until I was an adult, but AHTTH served much the same purpose for me.
I wish someone would bring it back into print.
Steven Jarvis | Jan 29, 2008 | Reply
Hmm. My previous comment seems to imply a condemnation of the impulse behind monkey-wrenching. While I don’t condone the act, I certainly understand (and feel) the impulse. There are usually more productive and effective ways to channel that impulse, is all.
Dave N | Jan 29, 2008 | Reply
Both books, The Monkey Wrench Gang and sequel, Hayduke Lives kick ass. They are must reads and contain more substance than just wrenching the man.
Salty | Jan 30, 2008 | Reply
TC, you are so going on some watch list now
Tom Chandler | Jan 30, 2008 | Reply
That should have happened long ago, what with Nestle being largely in control of the government’s security apparatus.
Or maybe it just seems that way.