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All The Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West by David Gessner
bristlecone's review against another edition
3.0
A nice biography of Stegner and Abbey that is also a survey of other western authors and includes descriptions of travels in the west. Perfect for time spent in the West. The only downside is that it is about 30% longer than it needed to be.
anneofgreenplaces's review against another edition
4.0
3.5
Overall an engaging mix of biography, travel memoir, literary criticism, and environmental science/politics. A touch of repetitiveness and sometimes small stretches of boredom, but I think that might be because I was already so familiar with a lot of the environmental issues he was explaining for a broader audience. The literary parts felt more sophisticated.
Overall an engaging mix of biography, travel memoir, literary criticism, and environmental science/politics. A touch of repetitiveness and sometimes small stretches of boredom, but I think that might be because I was already so familiar with a lot of the environmental issues he was explaining for a broader audience. The literary parts felt more sophisticated.
jansyn_liberty's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to read this book because I had just been to Utah and read some Edward Abbey. I'd never heard of Stegner before... But this book definitely piqued my interest in his writing. Overall the book was lackluster and without any formidable theories or philosophical musings. However it did have some quotable nuggets like: "We are a short term people, hungry for now. But the west is a long term place."
liberrydude's review against another edition
3.0
A road-trip, biography, and literary critique of two authors who knew each other and loved the American West but were very different- Wallace Stegner and Edward Abbey. One was culture, the other counter culture. One grew up in the East and never returned, the other grew up in the West as a nomad and retired to the East. Roots versus roaming. No hagiography here but an objective look at two great writers.
David Gessner, the author, loves the West too but currently teaches in North Carolina as far East as you can go-Wilmington. He really misses it too. So this book is about the West as well. Discussions on tourism (the amenities economy), extraction, agriculture are all here as well as cooperation versus competition in an arid environment. The irony of the individual and self reliant West being more dependent on the Federal Government than any other region of the country. It comes down to water.
We visit Wendell Berry in Kentucky who knew both authors. Thoreau and Montaigne are compared to our Western duo.
Some nice takeaways. Here’s one Utah Tourism should use- Utah is transcendence. Going West is like being born again. The West is the geography of hope. John Wesley Powell and his declaration of interdependence.
Ready to roll on Gessner’s next book following Teddy Roosevelt in the West.
David Gessner, the author, loves the West too but currently teaches in North Carolina as far East as you can go-Wilmington. He really misses it too. So this book is about the West as well. Discussions on tourism (the amenities economy), extraction, agriculture are all here as well as cooperation versus competition in an arid environment. The irony of the individual and self reliant West being more dependent on the Federal Government than any other region of the country. It comes down to water.
We visit Wendell Berry in Kentucky who knew both authors. Thoreau and Montaigne are compared to our Western duo.
Some nice takeaways. Here’s one Utah Tourism should use- Utah is transcendence. Going West is like being born again. The West is the geography of hope. John Wesley Powell and his declaration of interdependence.
Ready to roll on Gessner’s next book following Teddy Roosevelt in the West.
simplymary's review against another edition
5.0
Gessner did something great for me: he introduced me to Edward Abbey. I have no idea how, as a resident of Utah for two decades who has visited all of its national parks, I missed out on Edward Abbey until now...but the missing piece has been found! Of course I knew of Wallace Stegner. This book compared and contrasted the two iconic voices of the American West and reviewed most of their books. I enjoyed the way Gessner made an effort to visit all of the places they wrote about and to recreate a river journey like Abbey's. As soon as I finished the book, I promptly ordered from Powell's in Portland 8 books by Abbey, Stegner, and Terry Tempest Williams.
debi_g's review against another edition
3.0
The book is fine, it's my expectations that were misaligned.
thisisak's review against another edition
5.0
First, I love books that use adventure or travel to help tell the story. Gessner’s road trip through Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming was super fun to read, and I actually had just visited one of the places he talks about a few days before. Second, I love how everyday of an environmentalist David Gessner. His bit about needing to “own” being a hypocritical environmentalist and not making it a pure, moralistic movement is a message I love. Third, I knew a decent amount about Edward Abbey but not much about Wallace Stegner, so this was a great intro.
whats_margaret_reading's review against another edition
4.0
A double writer's biography, giving my to read list a healthy boost and a context for a lot of the mystification and 20th century thinking about the American West.