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The Monkey Wrench Gang
The Monkey Wrench Gang
Jan 7, 2026 6:36 PM

Author:Edward Abbey

The Monkey Wrench Gang

'Revolutionary ... An extravagant, finely written tale of ecological sabotage' The New York Times

Audacious, controversial and hilarious, The Monkey Wrench Gang is Edward Abbey's masterpiece - a big, boisterous and unforgettable novel about freedom and commitment that ignited the flames of environmental activism.

Throughout the vast American West, nature is being vicitimized by a Big Government / Big Business conspiracy of bridges, dams and concrete. But a motley gang of individuals has decided that enough is enough. A burnt-out veteran, a mad doctor and a polygamist join forces in a noble cause: to dismantle the machinery of progress through peaceful means - or otherwise.

Reviews

The book that influenced a generation of radical environmentalists

—— Washington Post

The Monkey Wrench Gang is a magnificent snarl of genres: spaghetti westerns tangled up with the Keystone Cops, the Cervantean romance tradition and Acme cartoon capers

—— Guardian

A thing of beauty - a wildly funny, infinitely wise, near to tragic tale

—— Houston Chronicle

A violently revolutionary novel

—— The New York Times

Launched America's 'eco-defense' movement ... A lasting cult classic

—— LA Times

Mixes comedy and chaos with enough chase sequences to leave you hungering for more

—— San Francisco Chronicle

Inspired acts of eco-activism in its day, and remains one of the most passionate pleas in literature to protect our wild places

—— Independent

A sad, hilarious, exuberant, vulgar fairy tale... It'll make you want to go out and blow up a dam

—— The National Observer

A mesmerising debut that is a masterpiece from the opening sentence to the bitter end, and everything in between.

—— Independent *5 new books to read in lockdown*

I loved this book . . . It triumphs because it takes a risk . . . We find ourselves hurtling towards an ending that is surprising, satisfying, subversive . . . Deeply affecting.

—— Irish Independent

Nolan's raw and uncannily insightful writing glimmers in a way that will shed new light onto wounds both healed and open

—— New York Times

Acts of Desperation . . . ruthlessly peels back the ego to expose the soul's most discomfiting corners . . . [and] illuminates the fragile tension between power and desire.

—— Evening Standard

Nolan's writing gleams with dark precision . . . What Acts of Desperation illuminates best is the chasm, sadly still enormous, between feminist politics and personal predicaments of love, sex and romance.

—— Los Angeles Times

Megan Nolan is a huge literary talent, and her first novel is a love story like no other.

—— Karl Ove Knausgaard

This is an incredible debut . . . Poignant, poetic, raw and utterly unique - I couldn't stop reading. Pre-order it now.

—— Pandora Sykes

Remarkable . . . a stunning meditation on the ways in which society moulds female desire . . . Lyrical and raw, Acts of Desperation is a vital intervention into the genre.

—— The Skinny

Nolan's ability to illustrate the rawest thoughts, neurosis and murky emotions is unrivalled. It's a read that will get inside your core.

—— Face

One of the most anticipated books of the year . . . Lives up to the hype.

—— AnOther Magazine *The Literary Fiction to Look Out for in 2021*

A darkly rich and heady exploration of hunger and unraveling, Acts of Desperation is unashamed and honest. It questions the truest way to inhabit a body and shows us the horror and the beauty in learning to be alone.

—— Jessica Andrews

A gripping story of romance gone wrong . . . It delves deep into the subtle psychology behind the temptation to return to something you know is not right for you.

—— Hannah Hillyer , Stellar

Is Acts of Desperation the next Normal People? An 'exhilarating' debut from a young Irish author . . . interrogates what it means to be a woman addicted to love.

—— Harriet Johnston , Daily Mail

[A] gripping debut novel... The writing is fearless and gut punching... Love, pain and pleasure are so closely entwined that it's almost impossible to extrapolate which one is feeding the other.

—— Emma Firth , BURO

A stunning book.

—— Sarah Carson , i

Nolan's narrator rips and picks at the threads and scabs of desire, hedonism and self-worth... in this searing first novel, Nolan is holding up a fantastically intense mirror to her protagonist and letting us make up our own mind about whether or not we will look away.

—— Tara Joshi , Quietus

There are flashes of brilliance throughout, reminiscent of John Berger.

—— Stephanie Sy-Quia , Times Literary Supplement

Acts of Desperation creates an immersive experience of toxic romance through a suffocating and addictive narrative.

—— New Statesman

Painful, sharp and absorbing.

—— Susie Mesure , i

A reflection on compulsion, addiction and what it's like to exist as a young woman in a world that is hostile to you. Read the first page and you won't be able to stop.

—— Irish Times

Nolan...stakes out thrilling new territory in an intense, unflinching novel that is always intelligent and utterly unafraid of ugliness.

—— Claire Lowdon , Spectator, *Books of the Year*

A devastating stripping back of the gendered and politicised conditions that shape desire, a revelation of the unnerving ways we are made vulnerable to others in unequal systems. Its crisp, knowing prose is unparalleled, its anger remarkable.

—— Anahit Behrooz , Skinny, *Books of the Year*

Nolan's intelligent, elegant first novel, a gripping portrait of love turned toxic.

—— Daily Telegraph

The star feature of Nolan's narration is her ability to cut through received ideas about women, relationships and even rape. Her headlong, fearless prose, feels like salt wind on cracked lips. You wince and you thrill.

—— Claire Lowdon , Sunday Times

A raw read of vulnerability, desperation, and most definitely a new voice in fiction

—— Chloe Brown , Cosmopolitan

A thrilling read...if you want a visceral, honest, unputdownable summer read then this is it. You'll devour it in a day.

—— Stylist, *Summer Reads of 2022*

A very elegant novel, with coercive control at the core. She has such a strong voice and not a sentence is extraneous

—— Emma Frost, author of BUSY BEING FREE , i

I read this in one go... I found it raw, honest, brutal and real.

—— Lykke Li , Observer

Written with acerbic style and wit, this is an intoxicatingly good look at romantic obsession, delusion and desire.

—— i

Beautifully written…and the short chapters keep things moving at an addictively fast pace. Most importantly, it’s shamelessly real

—— Crack
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