Edward Abbey Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Edward Abbey is an American author of fiction. He was born in 1927 in Home, Pennsylvania, and passed away in 1989. In 1944, he set out to see the American southwest for himself at the young age of seventeen. He didn’t have much money but he made his way around the country by getting rides from strangers and catching up to and hopping onto freight trains.

Abbey went to college in New Mexico and then moved on to working as a fire lookout and park ranger for the Southwest part of the National Park Service. He developed an appreciation of nature and a relationship with the nature and environment of the area that ended up greatly influencing his writing and books. He specifically found that he had a great love of the desert, and this would come up again and again in his books. Later he attended the University of Edinburgh.

Abbey enjoyed his time in the service and while he was working for the N.P.S., he was alongside a lot of the impressive ruins of ancient Native American cultures. Those cultures and their ruins were in stark contrast to the expanding modernization of civilization that was going on at the time. Abbey had a profound love for the outdoors that was coupled with a deep distrust of the industrial world.

It was this view of Abbey’s that influenced his work. As a result, his work did attract a cult following of readers that really loved what he had to say. When it comes to his passing, he died from complications from surgery on March 14, 1989, at his home in Oracle, Arizona. Abbey wanted to be buried in a sleeping bag without any casket or embalming fluid. His wishes were followed and his body was interred secretly in southern Arizona in an unmarked grave.

He is the author of many novels. Edward Abbey’s first book was titled Jonathan Troy and was published in 1954. He followed it up with The Brave Cowboy, followed by Fire on the Mountain in 1962 and Black Sun in 1971. He also wrote several other standalone novels that include The Monkey Wrench Gang, Good News, The Fool’s Progress, and the 1990 novel Hayduke Lives!.

Abbey has also contributed to several collections, including one with his name on it. He has four collections with his work in total out there. He has also written several nonfiction books that started with 1967’s Desert Solitaire and moved on to other books about nature, including Appalachian Wilderness, Slickrock, and more, with the last book being Late Harvest in 1992.

Jonathan Troy is the first book published by Abbey. He wrote it in high school and it was loosely based on the writings of his journal. Jonathan is obviously the main character and he is a senior in high school. He is seen as a golden boy because he has intelligence, talent, and looks most of all. But while he is superior to others in skill and due to luck many times, this transfers and he holds nearly all that he meets in contempt.

The book follows a variety of events that are not related that much except that they are related to Jonathan. He ends up seducing a girl he likes, only to lose interest when she starts talking marriage. He meets a new girl named Leafy who he begins pursuing. A lot of this story is based on Abbey’s hometown of Indiana, PA, but the town in the book is named Powhattan. Jonathan does not have much time for friends because he is too self-absorbed, and hearing his every thought is interesting.

As Jonathan navigates his world, there’s a lot going on. He avoids his Communist father, who receives daily threats, as much as he can. While he is not the greatest protagonist to love, see what happens in Jonathan’s world and what happens by picking up this book for yourself and get a taste of many themes that would come to later define Abbey’s novels.

The Brave Cowboy was the second novel published by Edward Abbey. It hit shelves in 1956. It features the main character of Jack Burns. He is a cowboy that is in love with the American country. A man out of time, Jack Burns never really yields to what he thinks is the tyranny of the modern age. The nineteen hundreds are a difficult time as the progress of the Industrial Revolution has accelerated and doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.

This cowboy is not into the attractions of this new age. He just is not interested at all in joining the aspects of contemporary society that he sees in front of him. Burns doesn’t want to live in a city and is perfectly happy riding his mare across the New West. But what used to be a beautiful land that was totally untarnished and natural has been completely changed by the introduction of huge highways and sprawling airstrips.

It seems like it is him and his feisty chestnut horse against a world that is totally changing. Jack wants nothing to do with it. He refuses to sign up for the draft and cuts down any fences that he comes across. It seems that no one has respect for the land anymore. If this is what contemporary society is, then he wants nothing to do with it.

When Jack is set against a world that is totally opposed to his values, it’s tough. He must stay true to what he believes and who he is though. But trouble with the law due to his way of existence starts stirring up problems. It’s not long before he is running away from the law in a last-ditch fight for freedom. If he is caught, he may rot in a jail cell for the rest of his days– the exact, nightmarish opposite of everything that he appreciates and loves.

The Brave Cowboy was adapted into a movie called Lonely are the Brave in 1962. It starred Kirk Douglas as Jack. Can he avoid falling into the hands of the law and continue to live free? Pick up this classic novel from Edward Abbey and find out.