Fire on the Mountain (Abbey novel)

Fire on the Mountain is a 1962 novel by Edward Abbey. It was Abbey's third published novel and followed Jonathan Troy and The Brave Cowboy.

Fire on the Mountain

First edition
Author	Edward Abbey
Language	English
Genre	Western
Publisher	The Dial Press
Publication date	1962
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages	211 pp
ISBN	0-8263-0457-5
OCLC	3540470
Dewey Decimal	813/.5/4
LC Class	PZ4.A124 Fi 1978 PS3551.B2

Plot summary

Abbey includes the following paragraph to introduce this book:

The story which follows was inspired by an event which took place in our country not many years ago. However, it is a work of fiction and any resemblance to living persons or actual places is accidental.

The hero of the story is John Vogelin, a New Mexico rancher whose land is about to be condemned by the United States Air Force, who want to use his land to expand a bombing range. He is the last holdout among the several people whose land the Air Force wants, and he refuses to move. The story of his resistance to being thrown off his land and his death is told through the eyes of his grandson, who is visiting the ranch for the summer.

Criticism of government

The book is essentially a critique on the over-extension of government. Abbey makes an argument for limited government, more explicitly to limit government's ability to expropriate private land. However, Abbey still opposed the private sector from developing on natural lands, arguments which were explored in later books such as The Monkey Wrench Gang through the novel's antagonist, which put him at odds with aspects of these ideologies.

Adaptations

The novel was adapted into a 1981 television film of the same name, which was directed by Donald Wrye and written by John Sacret Young. The film received a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award nomination in 1982.

Singer-songwriter Laura Veirs wrote a song called "The Ballad of John Vogelin" from her 2003 studio album Troubled by the Fire.