Appalachian Wilderness: The Great Smoky Mountains

While Edward Abbey was one of my favorite writers and although he was born in the Appalachian area, he was identified with the Southwest and wrote marvelously about the desert country. Eliot Porter was one of my favorite nature photographers, also identified with the Southwest but also well known for his other works, particularly his pioneering photos of birds. Both masters produced this fine volume that is certainly worth having for both the essays and the photographs. Both Abbey and Porter have produced other fine books. Porter worked with numerous writers and Abbey wrote essays for books with other great photographers. May I suggest "Slickrock" (with photographer Philip Hyde) and "Desert Images" (with photographer David Muench). Abbey is in his element with the essays in these books and both Hyde and Muench are master photographers. For Eliot Porter's works, his classics "In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World" (which really set the stage for his later projects) and "The Place No On Knew: Glen Canyon on the Colorado". Later Eliot works I consider outstanding include "Eliot Porter's Southwest" (which were early black and white photos), "Maine" and "The West". Abbey died in 1989, Porter died in 1990. They were giants whose works deserve to live forever.

Eliot Porter's beautiful photographs of wildflowers, trees, and mountain streams are an interesting juxtaposition to the often caustic prose of Edward Abbey, who writes the main body of the text, and Harry Caudill, who writes the epilogue. This book is Abbey at his best, showing that he can write well about a landscape other than the American southwest. He describes the landscape of the Southern Appalachians in their stark reality: the billboards and phony saloons of industrial tourism, the abandoned stores and churches, the paved roads catering to the rich and sedentary, the forsaken Cherokees. His story is a truthful and compassionate account of the tragedies of the region, as well as a powerful argument that capitalism has failed. This is not the place to start with Abbey--"Desert Solitaire" or "Abbey's Road" would be a better choice--but for those who are already familiar with him, this book will not be a disappointment.