The Brave Cowboy

This book, made into the movie "Lonely Are the Brave," established Edward Abbey as one of our preeminent exponents of the western legend. The hero, Jack Burns, reserves the 20th century. He canters down the main street of Duke City, (a thinly disguised Albuquerque), tears up his draft card and ignores the detritus of our age. His stubborn adherence to the values of the Old West make him anathema to those who uphold the new law of the land. "The cowboy's flight from captivity in a grubby jail cell to the pure freedom of the beckoning mountains is a symbolic journey that most men, at one time or another, either in reality or in their imagination, make."--William T. Pilkington