Fire on the Mountain

Author Edward Abbey carries the baggage of being an environmental activist in addition to his career as a writer. This book, first published in 1962, is considered a forerunner to The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), although I'm not certain Abbey would agree. I look at it more as a book in which Abbey demonstrates his understanding of the natural world, and the various attitudes of people toward Nature. It's not that long of a story. Rancher John Vogelin's ranch in New Mexico is being seized by the federal government to expand a missile test range. Vogelin disagrees, and the various law enforcement agencies team up to get Vogelin off the ranch. This story is told through the eyes of Billy, Vogelin's grandson. In the meantime, Vogelin and his friend Lee educate Billy about what today we call environmental ethics. The land is more than space and area. It is processes, history, and life. There are coyotes and magpies and vultures and mountain lions. There are cattle to be found and gates to be closed. There are horses to find and coffee to be drunk. What will Vogelin, and Lee, and Billy do? When it is one rancher versus the US Government, who will win? The answer will surprise you. This book covers a lot of topics, and you have to read it today with an understanding of the happenings in the late 50s and early 60s. The Cold War was a major event in the world. This is before the major environment-related Congressional Acts; before the Endangered Species Act, the stronger Clean Water and Air Acts, and the National Environmental Protection Act. It is before the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Rachel Carson didn't "launch" the environmental movement until her book, Silent Spring, came out also in 1962. There is a real "biodiversity is good" element in the book, as well as a western-style, cowboy independence. Other issues raised in this book are the meaning of friendship, the influence on children of adults, the sense and spirit of place, and the role of each citizen to maintain their well-being as well as the well-being of society. My two favorite passages: [Grandfather to Billy] "Did you wash your face and brush your teeth?" [Billy] "Yes." "When?" "This morning on the train." Grandfather thought for a moment. "Fine - well, good night, Billy." "Goodnight, sir." [p. 20] and [Billy asking Grandfather and Lee a question] "Will a lion attack a man?" I asked. "What for?" Grandfather said. "The meat." Lee grinned at me. "A lion will never attack a man unless the lion is too old or too sick to catch decent game. Or unless the lion is cornered, or angry, or wounded, or bored, or curious, or very hungry, or just plain mean." "Thank you," I said. "That answers my question." [p. 35] An intriguing book. Recommended.

In the fictional "Fire on the Mountain," published in 1962, it's pretty clear that Edward Abbey's ideas about individual liberty and wilderness preservation are pretty well developed, but not yet completely evolved. That philosophical evolution comes to it's glorious apex in "The Monkeywrench Gang," a dozen or so years down the road, but nevertheless, "Fire on the Mountain," is vintage Abbey of his "Desert Solitaire" period and well worth reading. The way I read Abbey, it's clear he inserts himself into his fictional characters. Fire on the Mountain is no exception and you can see Abbey in all three of the heroes of the book. The book itself is about an aging, but very spirited and independent small rancher, John Vogelin, who's ranch property in New Mexico unfortunately butts up against the White Sands Missile Range, which for purposes of "national security," is being expanded in area. Vogelin's ranch will become part of the WSMR and Vogelin won't have a choice in the matter. Vogelin then fights back. The other heroes are Vogelin's junior-high age grandson, Billy Starr (Billy's from the East and he's on summer vacation -- he visits his grandpa every summer) and his onetime ranch hand-turned-real estate entrepeneur (and idol of young Billy), Lee Mackie. The story is about Vogelin's bitter struggle with the US government and the bureaucrats working for the "G" in charge of getting Vogelin to accept the government's terms (generous for those days) and get Vogelin "resettled." Vogelin won't leave his ranch and indicates he'll shoot and kill "the first man that touches my ranch house" and that he'll have to be killed by the US Marshals in order to leave. Billy loves the land as much as his grandpa and would stay to the death with him if he could. Mackie is torn between sticking with the old man and persuading him to accept the reality -- and inevitability -- of the situation and leave peacefully with his life and a fattened bank account. Vogelin won't take the government's money and he refuses to leave. Abbey's utter contempt for a governmental institution that would take away our personal liberty while destroying wilderness is expressed in the resolute John Vogelin as he struggles against all odds to keep his ranch and his land. The impersonal, yet slick bureaucrats in charge of trying to get him off his land and their less-than-bright operatives providing the muscle are both treated with equal disdain by Abbey in the book. Vogelin's ranch land is part of a wild, rugged, spectacular high desert landscape and with Abbey describing Vogelin's, Billy's and Lee's various sojourns into the surrounding land and mountains, it's clear he's traveled those roads and trails on horseback as did his heroes. In my opinion, Abbey is almost peerless in his ability to describe the often overlooked subtleties in a wilderness landscape -- especially of a desert wilderness. Sometimes, it's those little points of observation by Abbey that helps us to see

Fire on the Mountain very vividly describes the actual landscapes and realities of New Mexico. The characters enviroment plays an effective role regulating how the family responds to their hardships and obstacles. The book is very well written and based off a true story that is heroic in its own way. I highly recommend this book to a person who likes a book based on reality yet offers adventure while describing such desolate areas and making them come to life.

For all those who have read Abbey's famous work Desert Solitaire and other non fiction Fire on the Mountain is a great introduction to his fiction. First published in 1962 it marks Abbey's early attempts to confront some of the environmental and social problems resulting from humanity's alienation from nature and the land. Abbey based his plot around actual events in which a New Mexico rancher named John Prather fought government attempts to confiscate his land to make it part of the White Sands Missle Range. Considering the time when this book was written, following the era of McCarthyism and the onset of the Cold War, Abbey was especially bold in putting forth the philosophical preposition that an individual has a moral and ethical responsibilty to protect the land against its despoilers, whether corporate entities or even the US government. In detailing one person's struggle against the seemingly invincible forces of power that the government represents, Abbey was attempting to illustrate that, indeed, one person's strugglecan make a difference. Given Abbey's extention of this line of thought and further development in The Monkeywrech Gang the intimate relationship between the two novels seems apparent. The ideas presented in Fire on the Mountain, thus, are central to understanding Abbey's subsequent works, both his fiction and non fiction, which are all bound by his belief that the essential tenent for human society must be respect for the environment and a duty to protect the natural diversity of life. As Abbey often said the land is owned by all and no one.

This is another of Abbey's great works which mixes fiction with reality. Although I don't know if the main character and his fight to save the land he lives on is based in fact I do know that it represents the same struggle that many have gone through when the government comes to tell you they need your land. It is a very endearing story about a man who has lived and worked on his land (which is in a relatively hostile geographic area which most people would not live in) only to find that towards the end of his life someone is going to try to take it from him. It is a great story and does not duplicate any of his other writings as far as I could tell.