Selected chapters from the author's novels and non-fiction originally published 1954-1982.

The author's preface to his own book -- from Jonathan Troy (1954) -- from The brave cowboy (1956) -- from Fire on the mountain (1962) -- From Desert solitaire (1968). Cowboys ; The moon-eyed horse ; Havasu ; The dead man at Grandview Point ; Bedrock and paradox -- from Appalachian wilderness (1970). Appalachia -- from Black sun (1971) -- from The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975). The great American desert ; Death Valley ; Manhattan twilight, Hoboken night ; Telluride blues, a hatchet job -- from Abbey's road (1979). Anna Creek ; The outback ; A desert isle ; Sierra Madre ; Down there in the rocks ; Science with a human face ; In defense of the redneck ; Fire lookout ; The sorrows of travel -- from Good news (1980) -- from Down the river (1982). Down the river with Henry Thoreau ; Watching the birds: the windhover ; Of protest ; My friend Debris ; Floating -- from The rites of spring (novel-in-progress).

A collection of excerpts from the author's fiction and essays covers people, politics, and nature from California to North Carolina to Europe, and from New York to southern Mexico to Australia.