Preview
  • The Fool’s Progress

  • An Honest Novel
  • By: Edward Abbey
  • Narrated by: Danny Campbell
  • Length: 22 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (234 ratings)

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The Fool’s Progress

By: Edward Abbey
Narrated by: Danny Campbell
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Publisher's summary

The Fool's Progress, the "fat masterpiece" as Edward Abbey labeled it, is his most important piece of writing: It reveals the complete Ed Abbey, from the green grass of his memory as a child in Appalachia to his approaching death in Tuscon at age 62.

When his third wife abandons him in Tucson, boozing, misanthropic anarchist Henry Holyoak Lightcap shoots his refrigerator and sets off in a battered pick-up truck for his ancestral home in West Virginia. Accompanied only by his dying dog and his memories, the irascible warhorse (a stand-in for the "real" Abbey) begins a bizarre cross-country odyssey - determined to make peace with his past-and to wage one last war against the ravages of "progress".

©1990 Edward Abbey (P)2018 Tantor
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What listeners say about The Fool’s Progress

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
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Ed Abby - Full Circle

This is a great book to listen to after all his others. It really puts them all into perspective. Great narration as always, Danny!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, narrative so-so

Narrator slaughters the pronunciation of several places and items mentioned by Abbey that a characteristics of the Southwest.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Henry is a free spirit, shockingly "honest".

Great writer. I must say I have never read a book quite like this. What "ISM" can't be found within the story. I laughed and laughed.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Definitely a fat masterpiece

Never a dull moment. Poetic in the oddest ways. The voice of the reader is perfect for this tale.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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They found the perfect narrator for Ed Abbey

I'm just loving this audio book. I have read all of EA except Hayduke Lives and this one. I have listened to audio tapes of EA narrating certain pieces of his own Desert Solitaire. Anyone who reads this review, I want to emphasize that THIS narrator makes EA live again. Danny Campbell makes this a joyous listen, in the same way Len Cariou makes Harry Bosch a profound listen. Something in the delivery is just right.

I'm born 1952 in Tucson, so you know this work describes a life more from my generation's perspective. If you're born after, say, 1975, you may not get a lot of the perspective. EA describes a life of poverty, into WWII, Korea, the Beat generation, to the Hippies, to the plastic onslaught of Progress running murderously over everything we love about the West.

Anyway, I'm so happy to listen to Mr. Campbell read Ed Abbey.

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15 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A must if you love Abbey

A beautifully crafted, sprawling, anachronistic, self indulgent American classic. A fat masterpiece by and about a somehow charismatic scoundrel.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Love Edward Abbey

The story is amazing. He is a great story teller and collector of unusual friends! I cried, I laughed! My heart ached for the southwest deserts he wrote about.
Well with a listen. Just ignore the fact that the narrator didn’t take the time to prepare himself for the language of the desert southwest! He mispronounced many, many words! Saguaro, Gila Bend, mogollon!
Did a disservice to the author and all of us here in the southwest!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Lots of adjectives in many sentences

I really like Edward Abby's writing, witty and sarcastic as always. Great descriptions and kinda of a Richard Cranium of a character.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Classic Ed Abbey

A fitting end to one of the west’s greatest writers. Sure could use more writers like Ed these dark days.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Abby always delivers!

Fools Progress hits exactly as you’d imagine from the complicated yet compassionate man. Great book!!

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2 people found this helpful