Monkey Wrench Gang
by Edward Abbey · first published 1975
42% recommend58% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Comic eco-activist caper set in the Southwest desert, following a small crew sabotaging development and machinery. Readers enjoy its irreverent humor and love of wild landscapes. Suits fans of place-driven fiction.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Ex-Green Beret George Hayduke returns from war to find his beloved southwestern desert threatened by industrial development. Joining with Bronx exile and feminist saboteur Bonnie Abzug, wilderness guide and outcast Mormon Seldom Seen Smith, and libertarian billboard torcher Doc Sarvis, M.D., Hayduke is ready to fight the power. They (the Monkey Wrench Gang) take on the strip miners, clear-cutters, and the highway, dam, and bridge builders who are threatening the natural habitat in this is a comedic novel of destructive mayhem and outrageous civil disobedience.
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2014–2023The Emerald Mile
Kevin Fedarko, Paul Michael Garcia
Recommended by 5 · mentioned by 55 recommend · 5 mention5 recommend · 55 recommend
2012–2026Desert solitaire
Edward Abbey
Recommended by 24 · mentioned by 3424 recommend · 34 mention24 recommend · 3424 recommend
2009–2026Cadillac desert
Marc Reisner
Recommended by 80 · mentioned by 10780 recommend · 107 mention80 recommend · 10780 recommend
…of the Grand Canyon. If I had to sum up his position on this topic, it might be "That's the point." [0] http://www.amazon.com/Desert-Solitaire-A-Season-Wilderness/d... [1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Monkey-Wrench-Gang-P-S/dp/00611297...
on “Who Can Save the Grand Canyon?” ↗…leads a double life cutting fences, torching wasteful mansions and getting into conflicts with poachers, extractors, and rich asshole "rancher" and developers. This brings to mind Edward Abbey's book The Monkey Wrench Gang. I can't recommend his books enough, especially Desert Solitaire.
on “The fight over preserving public land takes a twist in Montana’s mountains” ↗If you have a thing for Lake Mead then you really need to read the Edward Abbey books Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang. Very beautiful part of the world and I am glad to see you have a passion for getting the maps right.
on “Show HN: A raytracer to shade topographic maps in R, Part 2” ↗I was going to recommend The Monkey Wrench Gang. But Desert Solitaire is wonderful. One of my favorites...
on “Glen Canyon Revealed” ↗Great book. If you like fiction, also check out The Monkey Wrench Gang.
on “The largest US dam-removal effort to date has begun” ↗"One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity there ain't nothing can beat teamwork." Seldom Smith, from The Monkey-Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey.
on “Who Will Command the Robot Armies?” ↗…revisit the South West via words alone. Thanks for the recommend. Powell's book looks good too, with a touch of Shackleton grit to it. I too second Desert Solitaire as a must read, it is not a novel like Monkey Wrench Gang, it made me think again about values of freedom and what it is to be alive without having to suspend one's belief in a way that pure fiction demands. I also recommend walking down the Grand Canyon and…
on “Message from Mexico: U.S. Is Polluting Water It May Someday Need to Drink” ↗"Hayduke finished his morning tea and repaired to the shelter of a juniper. He dug a hole, squatted again and shat. He checked his stool: structurally perfect. This was going to be a good day." [The Monkey Wrench Gang, Edward Abbey]
on “90 percent of everything is crap” ↗This is the amusing hobby of some of the characters in Edward Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang.
on “I Block Ads” ↗…Seattle (maybe King County) doesn't allow billboards. You can really tell when you pass the banned area when driving south on I-5 getting close to Tacoma. Also if interested the opening scenes of The Monkey Wrench Gang (by Edward Abbey) are about illegally cutting down billboards in Southwest Utah.
on “Let's Ban Billboards” ↗…River (or anything else by Edward Abbey, really). The titular essay is about a trip down the Colorado. Abbey was an ardent critic of Glen Canyon Dam for flooding Glen Canyon. Better known for writing The Monkey Wrench Gang and Desert Solitaire, but Down the River more specifically deals with the Colorado.
on “U.S. takes unprecedented steps to replenish Colorado River's Lake Powell” ↗…folks that work for the NPS or a concessionaire, I mean the people who actually live in these places year-round. You should know that Abbey is not writing from a disinterested viewpoint. He wrote The Monkey Wrench Gang, after all. Still, I find his words both lucid and prescient.
on “The Business of Scenery: Why America’s national parks need new management” ↗A little book called The Monkey Wrench Gang suggests this trend began 50+ years ago.
on “The end of dispersed camping?” ↗…Springs and pursuing other misadventures. I was always reading, though, and in between repairing blown head gaskets and thrown timing chains I had my nose in books, trash and treasure alike, from “The Monkey Wrench Gang” to Hemingway and Harper Lee. My high school guidance counselor told me I should give up my dreams of being a writer and join the Navy instead. I managed to graduate from high school by the intervention…
on “Spyware turned a Kansas high school into a 'red zone' of dystopian surveillance” ↗