The Last American Man (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: hog farm, thirteen kids, Turtle Island, Eustace Conway, Big Eustace (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"By the time Eustace Conway was seven years old he could throw a knife accurately enough to nail a chipmunk to a tree." Such behavior might qualify Eustace as a potential Columbine-style triggerman, but in Gilbert's startling and fascinating account of his life, he becomes a great American countercultural hero. At 17, Conway "headed into the mountains... and dressed in the skins of animals he had hunted and eaten." By his late 30s, Eustace owned "a thousand acres of pristine wilderness" and lived in a teepee in the woods full-time. He is, as Gilbert (Stern Men) implies with her literary and historical references, a cross between Davy Crockett and Henry David Thoreau. Gilbert, who is friends with Conway and interviewed his family, evidences enormous enthusiasm for her subject, whether discussing Conway's need for alcohol to calm down; his relationship with a physically and emotionally abusive father; or his horrific hand-to-antler fight with a deer buck he was trying to kill yet she always keeps her reporter's distance. At times, Conway's story can be wonderfully moving (as when he buries kindergartners in a shallow trench with their faces turned skyward to help them understand that the forest floor is "alive") or disconcerting (as when, in 1995, he's uncertain about Bill Clinton's identity). Gilbert has a jaunty, breathless style, and she paints a complicated portrait of American maleness that is as original as it is surprising.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Eustace Conway discovered nature's wonders as a boy growing up in South Carolina during the 1960s. Miserable at home, a born perfectionist and fanatic, he took to the woods and developed wilderness skills unknown to most modern Americans. By the time he finished high school and moved into a teepee (his abode for 17 years), he was convinced that only encounters with "the high art and godliness of nature" could help save American society from its catastrophically wasteful habits and soul-deadening trivial pursuits. Conway is not alone in his beliefs, but he is unique in his maniacal drive to proselytize, and, ironically enough, he's taken his teaching mission to such extremes by attempting to create an Appalachian wilderness utopia that it's impossible for him to live the very life he champions. Tough, shrewd, gifted, vigorous, and contradictory, Conway, who set a world record crossing the continent on horseback in 103 days, both enlightens and confounds all who know him. Gilbert, a top-notch journalist and fiction writer, braids keen and provocative observations about the American frontier, the myth of the mountain man, and the peculiar state of contemporary America with its "profound alienation" from nature into her spirited and canny portrait, ultimately concluding that Conway's magnetism is due in part to his embodying society's most urgent conundrums. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (May 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142002836
• ISBN-13: 978-0142002834
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (105 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,958 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating book about an extraordinary but troubled man, June 18, 2002

By	Geoff Pietsch (Gainesville, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last American Man (Hardcover)

Some years ago I read a magazine article about Eustace Conway and found his story captivating. Thus I was eager to read this book when I learned of its publication. I won't summarize his life - the Reviews above do so sufficiently to capture almost anyone's interest - but let me urge others who post reviews to remember you are reviewing the book, not Eustace Conway. I'd give him 5 stars - or 10 - for many qualties, but surely not for his troubled personal relationships. But Elizabeth Gilbert has done a wonderful - definitely 5 star - job in telling his story. She knows him very well (and clearly likes him), has talked at length with a great many of his friends and with his parents and siblings, and she loves the lifestyle ideal he seeks to propagate. She also writes in a wonderfully engaging, personal style. I can't imagine anyone who reads the first couple of pages not being totally hooked.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic, thought provoking book., November 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Last American Man (Hardcover)

I can't decide whether to write a review of the book, or criticize my fellow reviewers, so I think I will do both. I bought this book, read it in four hours, gave it to my husband who then couldn't put it down, and then wrestled it away from him and re-read it. It is that compelling.

Elizabeth Gilbert is supremely talented, able to spin a yarn, laugh at herself, and deliver razor sharp character assessments in a few short sentences. Despite the opinions of some of the critics on this board, she is not in love with Eustace Conway. She does not fawn over this remarkable man, ever.

Instead, she tells Eustace's story with clarity and grace, never losing site of the metaphor she engages in comparing this man's story to the history of the American male, and America in general. Eustace's talent for self promotion seems to rub people the wrong way, even in his own family, but it is this very talent that has enabled Eustace to purchase his land and live his life according to his beliefs.

As for Eustace being deplorable, unlikable, despicable. etc... I had to ask myself if I had read the same book as these folks. I think the word they must be looking for is conflicted. Never did I see any examples of cruelty, anger or hatred in Eustace's behavior. What I did read about was a lot of candy-assed weenies who didn't like being told what to do, people who need to have their every completed task validated with a compliment, people Eustace eventually tires of, and thankfully so. Frankly, I found Gilbert too understanding of these punks, and a bit hard on Eustace. So much for her being in love with him.

As for those who call Eustace a hypocrite, please. This man lived in a tipi for 17 years, lives now with no electricity or running water, and built his homestead with his bare hands and no nails. He is the first to admit he drives a truck, uses plastic buckets and appreciates the power of a chain saw. He never says otherwise, and even if he did, would it make his other accomplishments less valid? Oh yeah, I guess so. The worst thing you can do nowadays is be a hypocrite, right? That negates every accomplishment, invalidates every honor.

As for the claims that thousands live in rural Tennessee, etc... more naturally than Eustace, yeah right. This man is a blacksmith, plows his fields with horses, makes clothes out of buckskin, makes jars from clay found in riverbeds, catches skins and eats rattlesnakes, set two endurance ride records, on and on. I daresay maybe a handful of people live like him, if that many, and they are paid to be 'historical interpreters' at Jamestown and the likes. At the end of the day they punch out and go to Starbucks.

Lastly, the condescension surrounding Eustace's inability to find a mate, as if he is somehow so scarred and despicable he will never marry is ludicrous. If everyone who marries is somehow at a place of peace Eustace will never find because of his mixed up psyche, then the bar must be very low indeed, and Eustace is the smart one.

What I found most interesting about this book is the way it made me take a hard look at some of the decisions I have made in my life. Only the best books do that. I encourage you to read this book and ignore the naysayers. People of heroic proportions tend to polarize everyone, and I think those who dislike this book and Eustace are jealous on some level. Jealous of his decisiveness, his character and his astounding achievements.

33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars North Carolina Icon, October 25, 2005

By	Benjamin T. Dewolfe (Charlotte, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am from NC and had a chance to meet Eustace at Merlefest, the bluegrass festival that he attends every year (In his teepee). He seemed very laid back, appreciative and polite in person. At the time, I had only heard of him through a few friends that read this book, but I had not read the book myself. I was extremely curious about his life and views after meeting him and read the book about him, "The Last American Man".

This is a great book, because it is the type of book that will stay with you a long time (I read it three months ago and I still think about it frequently). Eustace is a fascinating person, with views on materialism and nature that could only be considered eccentric in today's culture. He believes that most of us would be happier if we release ourselves from our materialism and live in nature, surving off our knowledge of the wilderness. He is amazing in that he starts his own camp, Turtle Island in which he teaches kids and adults who want to work with him about the art of surviving in the wilderness. His knowledge of hunting and farming is astounding. He often studied Native American cultures growing up (In Gaston County) and used this knowledge from very early on. He adopts many values and skills of the Native Americans and applies it. He also faces challenges that most of us just dream about (Hiking the entire AT, and riding a horse from coast to coast with his brother).

The book is not only a riveting story about Eustace's wanting to start a movement to Native American values, but also captures character flaws which often leave Eustace isolated and feeling unfufilled. He has difficulty having relationships with women, and getting along with those that work with him. Through it all, though, we are still in awe of his drive to take a stand and at least try to influence other people to adopt at least some of his values or lifestyle.

I am an avid outdoorsman, but would be the first to admit that it would be difficult to live and survive in the wilderness under primitive condidtions day after day. I suppose I, like most other people, have been spoiled with todays comforts. I know I will not adopt his lifestyle, but because of this book I go to bed at night sometimes just dreaming about what it would be like!