The Brave Cowboy [Edward Abbey]

[Best NM Novel] [Cowboy vs. Machine] [Anarchism]

The Brave Cowboy

Edward Abbey

UNM Press, Albuquerque. 1980. Paperback. Some yellowing, a faint bit of staining to cover.

From the publisher:

"Jack Burnes is a loner at odds with modern civilization. A man out of time, he rides a feisty chestnut mare across the New West -- a once beautiful land smothered beneath airstrips and superhighways. And he lives by a personal code of ethics that sets him on a collision course with the keepers of law and order. Now he has stepped over the line by breaking one too many of society's rules. The hounds of justice are hot in his trail. But Burnes would rather die than spend even a single night behind bars. And they have to catch him first."

First off, this is the greatest book cover of any NM related work. Period. A cowboy, in the crosshairs, pinned between the wild blue skies of NM Nothingness and downtown Albuquerque. It's perfect. It is a perfect book as well, made into a perfect film called "Lonely are the Brave". Crucial New Mexican media.