On Feminism : ". . . How can women compete with men, share power with men, become the full equals of men, without becoming much like men? Facing this distastful prospect, the feminists demand that men meet women halfway. In other words men should neuter, geld, caponize themselves by becoming as much like women as possible . . . ."
This is Abbey at his most outrageous and controverisial. He is brutally honest about presenting his opinions, knowing he's not going to win many friends in the process. Yet you can recognize his particular brand of logic working through his arguments. He is not a man who deludes himself.
"Truth? Truth?" he asks in "A Writer's Credo." "I venture to assert for one thing (truth) is the enemy of Power, as power is the enemy of truth," he writes rather histrionically. Then he sounds more like himself: "What is truth? I don't know and I'm sorry I brought it up."
Come to Abbey looking for a good fight--like a spirited barroom brawl that leaves its breathless opponents friends after all the blows have been struck.
Readers who are especially sensitive about issues Abbey raises may want to put this book right back on the shelf. On the other hand, everyone occasionally needs to get out of town, \o7 really\f7 get out of town. And Abbey, like few others, can take you there, in his own crisp, vivid language. He's at his best describing his view of Grand Canyon for the first time, or his trip down Lake Powell on a houseboat or his solitary river journey down the Colorado.
He's probably America's crankiest citizen; but if you listen closely to his complaints you'll be spellbound by the sense he makes from time to time in spite of himself.
