{"product_id":"the-red-caddy-into-the-unknown-with-edward-abbey-9781477322338","title":"The Red Caddy: Into the Unknown with Edward Abbey","description":"\u003cp\u003eA passionate advocate for preserving wilderness and fighting the bureaucratic and business forces that would destroy it, Edward Abbey (1927-1989) wrote fierce, polemical books such as \u003ci\u003eDesert Solitaire\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Monkey Wrench Gang\u003c\/i\u003e that continue to inspire environmental activists. In this eloquent memoir, his friend and fellow desert rat Charles Bowden reflects on Abbey the man and the writer, offering up thought-provoking, contrarian views of the writing life, literary reputations, and the perverse need of critics to sum up \"what he really meant and whether any of it was truly up to snuff.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Red Caddy\u003c\/i\u003e is the first literary biography of Abbey in a generation. Refusing to turn him into a desert guru, Bowden instead recalls the wild man in a red Cadillac convertible for whom liberty was life. He describes how \u003ci\u003eDesert Solitaire\u003c\/i\u003e paradoxically \"launched thousands of maniacs into the empty ground\" that Abbey wanted to protect, while sealing his literary reputation and overshadowing the novels that Abbey considered his best books. Bowden also skewers the cottage industry that has grown up around Abbey's writing, smoothing off its rougher (racist, sexist) edges while seeking \"anecdotes, little intimacies . . . pieces of the True Beer Can or True Old Pickup Truck.\" Asserting that the real essence of Abbey will always remain unknown and unknowable, \u003ci\u003eThe Red Caddy\u003c\/i\u003e still catches gleams of \"the fire that from time to time causes a life to become a conflagration.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-11648727\"\u003eCharles Bowden\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Texas Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/08\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 120\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.32lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.25w x 0.29d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781477322338\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1477322337\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-BIO\"\u003eBiography \u0026amp; Autobiography\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-BIO007000\"\u003eLiterary Figures\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Texas Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42693514952941,"sku":"9781477322338","price":21.28,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/products\/img_93858f0c-0d90-45c8-9420-207ce0c2bdfb.jpg?v=1649859775","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/products\/the-red-caddy-into-the-unknown-with-edward-abbey-9781477322338","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}