Desert Cabal

Published 50 years after Desert Solitaire, seventh-generation Utah resident Amy Irvine talks about her respect for Abbey’s impact on her life and writing, while also not holding back on lambasting Abbey for his behavior and hypocrisy. Irvine told Orion magazine, “My goal was not to take Abbey down, but rather to make space for other voices and relationships to the natural world.” While Abbey might be the context for the book, Irvine goes on to deliver a fascinating exploration into her own take on the wonders of wilderness. She can be as hard on herself as she is on… show more.

Amy Irvine’s Desert Cabal knocked me out! She takes on a sacred idea—wilderness—and a sacred text—Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire—and both celebrates and criticizes them with a fierce love and integrity. Fifty years after Abbey’s classic book was published, Irvine engages it, challenges it, wrestles with it—finding its author by turns inspiring and irritating while rendering her observations in prose as beautiful and sharp-edged as her beloved Utah desert. Opposed to the long-celebrated lone individualist that Abbey embodied, Irvine proposes a cabal, “a group gathered to conspire, to resist.” It’s an updated, more inclusive, more natural vision. Count me in!