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The Last American Man | 
| Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Publisher: Highbridge Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
Buy New: $21.59
You Save: $13.36 (38%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  96 reviews
Sales Rank: 1031354
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Abridged
Number Of Items: 6
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0
Dimensions (in): 6.3 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 1565116534
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.310973
EAN: 9781565116535
ASIN: 1565116534
Publication Date: May 1, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new audiobook! Delivered direct from our US warehouse by Expedited (4-7 days) or Standard (usually 10-14 days but can be longer). Expedited shipping recommended for speedier delivery. Over 1 million satisfied customers
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Product Description
What does it mean to be a man in modern America? Do men somehow better themselves when they leave civilization and head into the woods? The Last American Man is a cultural examination of contemporary American male identity and the uniquely American desire to return to the wilderness.From the frontier West to American utopian communities, Elizabeth Gilbert has produced a history of American manhood as it has never been told before. To illustrate her story, Gilbert uses the rich and fascinating case study of Eustace Conway, a man who has lived in the Appalachian Mountains since the age of 17. Conway has worked tirelessly to try to convince his fellow Americans to give up self-destructive modern lifestyles and return with him to the primal sanctuary of the wilderness. He is a living metaphor that challenges all assumptions about what it is to be a modern man in America. The Last American Man is at the same time an adventure saga and a thoughtful meditation on the relationship of man to the wilderness. It is also a reflection of masculine American identity in all its conflicting elements—energy, isolation, narcissism, inventiveness, audacity, and destiny.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 91 more reviews...
 Thought Provoking October 6, 2008
This book really made me think. It wasn't the best written book. I liked her other book, Eat Pray Love better, however even though I'm not thrilled with her style of writing I love the content she presents and what she writes about. This book has seriously made me look at the purpose and quality of my own life and the changes I want to make.
A different kind of biography June 17, 2008
This is the biography of a man who has spent his whole life in the woods, living off the land. The difference between him and the many others who live off the land? He has flourished. Plus, he does it partially to convince others to give up the trap of luxury and return to a simple nature-centric lifestyle. The author gives us a solid background then weaves interesting tales about the "last american man" and how hardworking and different he is compared to an average man. A well-written book that drags a little in the end reiterating the same dogma that keeping up with the joneses is futile. However Elizabeth Gilbert hadn't quite polished off her writing style as she does in Eat, Pray, Love. A worthy read for anyone disinterested in suburban sprawl along with Into The Wild.
Reluctant Disciple March 31, 2008
I enjoyed reading this book and I have often dreamed of living the type of lifestyle that Eustace Conway lives, though not quite so harsh. It seems to me that his many hang-ups have created a personal "river" that no one is able to cross and join him. He seems to be a carbon copy of his father, with just enough minor differences to convince himself that he is nothing like him. Sadly, he has decided to turn away from the only source that could give him true happiness, a relationship with Jesus Christ. I think the old saying, "no one is as blind as he who refuses to see" fits Eustace well. His desire for acceptance from his father has blinded him to the joys of life. The disatisfaction that his apprentises experience and which Eustace cannot understand appears to stem largely from his use of them as slave labor. The expectations of those who come to work on Turtle Island are not the expectations of Eustace himself, which seems to be based on a phylosophy of, " hey, I dug a one hundred foot long ditch, three feet deep through solid rock! It took me two months and nearly killed me, and though I didn't really learn anything about living off the land, by golly I know I can dig a ditch through solid rock and knowing that gives me a warm feeling about who I am." No. The book gives the impression that the apprentises thought they were there to learn how to live off the land but Eustace failed to tell them that they were there to find out what he himself had always practised, "I will do one thing no matter how hard or how impossible it may seem until it kills me or I master it. Then I can stand straight and in my mind know that I am worth something if to no one but myself."
This is somewhat of a harsh review of a book about a man I've never met but it is based on the impression I got from the book. I wish you eventual happiness Mr. Conway. You've certainly strived for it.
I recommend this book.
Very interesting! Wonderfully written! March 28, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. It gave an unbiased account of a man, who even in his best intentions, falls short of what he wants to be. Contrary to some of the negative reviews, Gilbert DOES see all that is not right about this man, and she tells us about it.
This book is a journey through the mind and heart of a troubled man and those people who were raptured by his personality and then inevitably disappointed. I loved it!
Eustace March 22, 2008
I have purchased approx. 10 copies of this book-- I find it entertaining, amusing and cannot decide if I liked this man at the end or not. As I live in North Carolina; not far from the subject- guests often think it would be fun to meet him and see how he as aged. Great gift book for -mostly the men in ones life.
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