This is my favorite Edward Abbey book.

It may be hard to comprehend the impact of a writer like Abbey on a young man working seasonally as a Wilderness Ranger in the High Uintas. Abbey at about the same time is working seasonally as a fire lookout. He’s writing about Arizona, where I wintered as a dude wrangler, the red rock country of Utah, Montana and Wyoming.

It’s a bit strange to look at his writing from the perspective of time. Not every ill he saw on the horizon came to pass, but enough has to give one pause. Strip mines and coal fired power plants take up too much good rangeland in northern Wyoming and southern Montana. The power goes to Portland, and Seattle, to the northeast to Ohio, and the urban areas of Illinois and Michigan. In fact, the power plants (and the mines too, I guess) are owned by power consortiums from outside of Wyoming and Montana; you can look it up.

The Clean Air Act was supposed to prohibit degradation of pristine air sheds like those of Wyoming and Montana, but...apparently, there are work arounds (you didn’t think the EPA was all about the “science,” did you?). What did Dylan say? “Money doesn’t talk, it screams.” Besides, Wyoming and Montana each have only 3 electoral votes.

Interesting.
I just looked up a new hardcover copy on amzon and they don't have one.
I'll have to settle for the used "very good" one for $2500

No worries, paperbacks are $16 and under.

Big Abbey fan, I'll have to look this one up. My favorite is "Monkey Wrench Gang", Ken Sander's Books in SLC has a special 50th edition, I gifted one to a friend.