This book is different from any other Edward Abbey book. It includes essays, travel pieces and fictions to reveal Ed's life directly, in his own words. The selections gathered here are arranged chronologically by incident, not by date of publication, to offer Edward Abbey's life from the time he was the boy called Ned in Home, Pennsylvania, until his death in Tucson at age 62. A short note introduces each of the four parts of the book and attempts to identify what's happening in the author's life at the time. When relevant, some details of publishing history are provided. Edward Abbey was born in 1927 in Pennsylvania. He earned graduate and postgraduate degrees from the University of New Mexico. He wrote "Desert Solitaire" while working as a Park Ranger in Utah. He is also the author of "The Monkey Wrench Gang, Abbey's Road," and "The Journey Home," among others. He died in March 1989. "The Serpents of Paradise" collects the best and most inflammatory writings of the late naturalist, environmentalist, and libertarian, a former National Park ranger and the author of "Desert Solitaire," "The Journey Home," and many other works. It offers students the perfect introduction to the thought of one of our most influential environmentalists. "A splendid summary of his best work . . . Anyone who doesn't already know his work will find this volume, culled from more than a dozen books of fiction and nonfiction, and addictive introduction."--"Publishers Weekly" "Praise this earth for Edward Abbey . . . The announcement of a new Abbey book, whether essays or fiction, stirs a personal craving no other current American writer can satisfy."--"Los Angeles Times Book Review " "Abbey was a true independent, a self-declared extremist and 'desert mystic, ' and a hell of a good writer . . . John Macrae has wisely chosen to organize these outstanding essays, travel pieces, and works of fiction to parallel events in Abbey's unusual life."--"Booklist"