Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Troy | 1954 | Edward Abbey | Buy |
| 2 | The Brave Cowboy | 1956 | Edward Abbey | Buy |
| 3 | Fire on the Mountain | 1962 | Edward Abbey | Buy |
| 4 | Black Sun | 1971 | Edward Abbey | Buy |
| 5 | The Monkey Wrench Gang | 1975 | Edward Abbey | Buy |
| 6 | Good News | 1980 | Edward Abbey | Buy |
| 7 | The Fool’s Progress | 1988 | Edward Abbey | Buy |
| 8 | Hayduke Lives! | 1990 | Edward Abbey | Buy |
Edward Abbey’s eight novels span from his 1954 debut to the posthumous Hayduke Lives! in 1990. His early work – Jonathan Troy, The Brave Cowboy, and Fire on the Mountain – established his recurring theme of individual freedom clashing with institutional power in the American West. The Brave Cowboy was adapted into the 1962 Kirk Douglas film Lonely Are the Brave, with a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo.
The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975) is his best-known novel, a comic adventure about four mismatched characters who wage guerrilla warfare against strip mines, bridges, and dams in the canyon country of the Southwest. The book directly inspired the founding of Earth First! in 1980. His most personal novel, The Fool’s Progress (1988), is a semi-autobiographical road trip from Arizona back to the family farm in Appalachia. Hayduke Lives!, published posthumously in 1990, returned to the characters of The Monkey Wrench Gang.