Fire on the Mountain

Written by Edward Abbey

Narrated by Danny Campbell

A half-century after its original publication, Edward Abbey's classic 1962 novel, Fire on the Mountain, still retains its beauty, power, and relevance. This extraordinary tale by the legendary icon of the environmentalism movement and author of The Monkey Wrench Gang proudly celebrates rugged American individualism, as it tells the story of one tough old loner's stand against the combined, well-armed forces of government that are determined to clear him from his land.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Mar 27, 2018
• ISBN: 9781541483118

Edward Abbey

<p>Edward Abbey spent most of his life in the American Southwest. He was the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including the celebrated <em>Desert Solitaire</em>, which decried the waste of America’s wilderness, and the novel <em>The Monkey Wrench Gang</em>, the title of which is still in use today to describe groups that purposefully sabotage projects and entities that degrade the environment. Abbey was also one of the country’s foremost defenders of the natural environment. He died in 1989.</p>

[junipersun · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a stubborn tear-jerker. When the old man says he's going to stay on his ranch until he dies, you just know he's going to die. The question is, will he buckle under to the sheriff & the military who want to take over his ranch to run atomic tests? Will his grandson or his long-time friend stand by him? You can feel the respect they have for him, but how far can one person go? Who really has the right to 'own' and change (destroy) land?
Great descriptive writing that reminds me of some desert valleys and high mountain forests I have known.

[mkboylan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

8.  [Fire on the Mountain] by [[EdwardAbbey]]

I am on vacation (from retirement!) in the Arizona desert currently, where I always manage to read Abbey.  He is one of my favorite authors, but I didn't personally find this to be one of his best books.  This  is some of his earliest writing, so needs to be understood with that in mind, as well as the times, when perhaps this was unusual thinking.  For example he addresses issues of private property using ranchers versus developers, or rather government right of eminent domain.  It is easy to sympathize with the rancher, whose father and grandfather built this place, until we are reminded that his forefathers stole the land from Indians.  Abbey also projects this land  ownership into the future, when who knows who will be living on it.   The book IS full of Abbey's wonderful descriptions of wilderness and desert, well worth reading. 

[untraveller · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The copy I read was purchased in Moab and is the first edition, ex-Moab Public Library copy, of the book. Was fun to read a book that had been read previously by hundreds. Simple read, but it seems to me that the movie Cat Ballou may have been based on this book, at least in part.

[daniel5estes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Is Heaven better than this place?" I asked.
"The climate's a little better here," Grandfather answered.
"Less humility," Lee said.

I lived in New Mexico for several years though not from the sparsely populated setting of Edward Abbey's novel, Fire on the Mountain. Still, it hardly matters where you are. There's something about the piercing blue sky and the forever landscape which, if given a chance, will become a part of you. Edward Abbey does a superior job describing this feeling; the first half of the novel being devoted almost entirely to this longing for the land.

Billy is the visiting grandson of the rancher John Vogelin, who is being forced off his land to make way for the expansion of the White Sands Missile Range. The story, told from Billy's point of view, shows the struggle of a stubbornly proud old man who won't go quietly. How do the values and convictions of one man and his grandson stand up against the might, and legal right, of the United States government? As is turns out, the answer is anything but simple.