Monkeywrenching: Still Alive, Just Reinvented
Thanks to Mike Coronella from the Abbeyweb for sharing this story….as my friend Hayduke says “We’re Back!”
Preserving Abbey’s legacy
Bookseller Ken Sanders works to maintain impact of late Western writer.
By Katie Drake
The Salt Lake Tribune
Though it has been 20 years since his friend Edward Abbey passed away, it is only recently that Ken Sanders has been able to put aside his grief and remember the good times.
Now Sanders is inviting others to remember Abbey, and hoping a new generation can be inspired by his passionate environmentalism in the process.
Ken Sanders Rare Books will host a night of remembrance at 7 p.m. Saturday at the store, 268 S. 200 East, Salt Lake City. Speakers will include Ken Sleight, the inspiration for Seldom Seen Smith of “The Monkey Wrench Gang,” and Tim DeChristopher, who recently gained notoriety posing as a bidder and running up auction prices of gas and oil leases around Arches National Park.
Sanders feels the event will be a perfect transition from old-school environmentalism to the new school of environmental civil disobedience.
“[Abbey] resonates with young people today as they discover him,” Sanders said.
Indeed, Abbey could have been speaking of DeChristopher when he said, “A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.”
DeChristopher read Abbey’s works in college and believes it would be a grave mistake for his generation to dismiss Abbey as irrelevant. He believed in the spirit of Abbey’s writings, but did not want to follow the same “destructive” path, instead committing acts of civil disobedience and founding www.peacefuluprising.org.
“He inspired me to find my own path and my own way to be effective,” DeChristopher said.
Sanders, Sleight and other old Abbey friends will be on hand to share stories and exploits of the events that inspired many of Abbey’s writings. For Sanders, it is all about keeping his late friend’s voice alive.
Abbey was dismayed that his works were labeled classics, because he felt that while universally acknowledged as great books, no one ever reads the classics.
He should not have worried.
All of his works, except for one, have been continuously in print, and Sanders cannot keep used copies in stock.
“The only reason that I talk or speak about Ed is that it is important to keep the words of Edward Abbey alive,” Sanders said.
On Saturday night there should be plenty of people assuring he lives again.
Remember Abbey’s road
Ken Sanders Rare Books will host a night of remembrance for Edward Abbey on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the store, 268 S. 200 East, Salt Lake City.
Hey, could you repost Ed’s thesis? I can’t seem to get the link to work…
This should work…worked for me. It’s a Word document:
Send me an e-mail if it doesn’t.