Postcards from Ed

"Edward Abbey (1927-1989) was a singular American writer and cult hero, as famous for books like Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang as he was infamous for the prickly persona of "Cactus Ed." Abbey's postcards and letters, legendary during his lifetime and collected here for the first time, convey the fullness of the man and reveal, along with his wisdom and savage wit, a tender side seldom seen before. Whether spouting on the virtues of anger, roasting hawkish proponents of Vietnam, or lending encouragement to fellow writers such as Cormac McCarthy, here we find the essential spirit…