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The Last American Man Hardcover – May 13, 2002

by Elizabeth Gilbert (Author)

305 customer reviews

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The author of Pilgrims moves from short fiction to nonfiction, offering a cultural examination of the modern American male, exploring the meaning of manhood in all of its contradictions, meaning, and challenges. 35,000 first printing.

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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 He is, as Gilbert (Stern Men) implies with her literary and historical references, a cross between Davy Crockett and Henry David Thoreau.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.

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

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Product details

Hardcover: 271 pages
Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover (May 13, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0670030864
ISBN-13: 978-0670030866
Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.1 x 9.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
Average Customer Review: 305 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #849,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #519 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Regional U.S. > South
- #648 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Gender Studies > Men
- #864 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Environmentalists & Naturalists

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CONWAY IS NOT THE AMERICAN MAN I WANT TO BE

January 3, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

“The Last American Man” is the third Elizabeth Gilbert book I’ve read: In fact, that makes three Gilberts in a row, something I rarely do. Although I’ve come to admire her spirit and writing ability, this book is somewhat disappointing. The interesting subject matter is still there, the writing is impeccable, and, as usual, she keeps me engrossed. But somewhere, in her study of this unusual man’s makeup, I consider her subject, Eustace Conway, as being an unlikeable person with flawed makeup who doesn’t deserve her soft-pedaled praise and admiration.

It’s the story of a survivalist with such a strange and outrageous lifestyle that, in my opinion, his mental balance comes into question. I appreciate Conway’s passion for uncomplicated living and return-to-nature enthusiasm. But his intent to convert all wasteful and thoughtless humans into his own image while using tyranny, selfishness, and one-sided logic does not make him an admirable figure; especially as he leaves in his wake a history of family turmoil, broken friendships, and disillusioned women. A lengthy succession of brilliant women, initially enthralled with his charisma, has abandoned him because of his unreasonable dominating nature. I was highly offended by his actions and expectations of other people.

Eustace Conroy IV is a product of his father’s brutal nurturing and agonizes over it, yet he displays the same sort of cruel demeanor. He believes that obedience, discipline, and order is the way people should endure life and he doesn’t like to have his convictions or his demands on how to achieve such a life be questioned. If folks desire to be trained in the rigorous procedure of returning to nature at his service farm community at Turtle Rock in North Carolina, all demands for compliance with his techniques must be met. Over the years, however, he has found that very few employees or campers share his enthusiasm for backbreaking work, meager rations, and unpleasant living conditions. They leave in droves with unpleasant memories.

I am uneasy with Gilbert’s apparent fascination with Conway. She does disparage him a bit for his self-centered behavior and agonizes over his failure to make corrections in the way he treats people, but I detect a sprinkling
of admiration in some of her observations of his deportment. In my opinion he doesn’t rate even a drizzle and I would not have expected this based on other Gilbert writing or her personal convictions.

But my faith in this author and her talent has not diminished. I still stand in admiration for her research, her writing clarity, and her ability to capture the reader’s interest. In spite of my misgivings about the man, I found “Last American” to be very illuminating. I urge you to read this book because my displeasure might be misguided and there might be other merits I’m overlooking. You shouldn’t miss the chance for some thought-provoking musing and the opportunity to tell me that I’m full of crap.

Schuyler T Wallace
Author of TIN LIZARD TALES

108 people found this helpful109 people found this helpful

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Matt32

If you like tall tales

February 10, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I first started seeing this book talked about on survival/outdoors forums. When I saw Eustace on Mountain Men I decided he would be an interesting subject to read on.

If you were to ask me to rate this book on story alone, I'd give it at least 4 stars. If you like tall tales, the thrill-seeking adventurist, and nature then this is a really great book. I myself am a slow reader, but I blew through this in a couple of days. Once you get started it is positively gripping. It is like a larger than life wilderness trek that actually happened. Sort of...

That being said, the book fails at what it is intended to be, which is a biography. Many reviews criticize Gilbert's writing as coming off as immature, and I agree, and it is definitely not unbiased. She tries to sell Eustace like a wingman tries to sell his best friend at the bar. This leads to a lot of lawyer talk that makes her stories unbelievable. For example, she spends the majority of the book making Eustace's father seem like the most horrible person on Earth, and yet he still loans his son $80,000? She tells a story about them bonding and then, with no explanation at all, apparently Eustace's father goes back into his shell and starts being mean to Eustace? She talks about how Eustace doesn't use his power and fame over women and yet every single relationship she goes over ends for the same reason- Eustace neglects women and expects them to do his chores while he goes and plays mountain man and then when it goes south, he writes them letters with content most of us would likely turn over to the authorities. Gilbert talks about how patient Eustace is and how he loves to teach, and yet he makes his students sign at least 2 year agreements to stay and work for him and when they don't perform up to his expectations he throws tantrums and kicks them to the curb, forgetting he is trying to teach ancient ways of life that took thousands of years to cultivate, to modern people. I hate to even mention the part in which Gilbert makes reference to one of Eustace's horses feeling as good between his thighs as one of his women. That part was absolutely creepy and a horrible choice of wording, I actually put the book down and thought "WTF" for a moment. I only bring it up because the book is full of these little awkward nuances.
Gilbert tells us we must fall in love with Eustace himself, and not the idea of him, however, this is exactly what she does. Eustace is her hero, but inadvertently she brings out how flawed he really is. And it is ugly. Eustace comes off as abusive- some might even say psychopathic, but the whole time Gilbert makes a half-hearted attempt to place the blame on everyone else. If anything, this book confirmed my suspicions aroused by the Mountain Men show, that Eustace is a real jerk.
If you want to keep the image most of you probably have of Eustace, which is the happy hippy, or you want an honest look into the man, I would avoid this book. If you are looking for an exciting read about some (most likely embellished) outdoor Wildman fun then The Last American Man is definitely worth a read.

61 people found this helpful62 people found this helpful

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nausetsunrise

Not what was expected based on the description

July 18, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I had hoped for a biography and an understanding of a way of life. I am confused about Gilbert's outlook and opinion of her subject. Gilbert is a talented writer, and her fiction is extremely enjoyable. I think she didn't know what to make of her subject here, and wrestles with that and without a resolution within her own mind, this is the product of her thoughts. I'm not trying to be overly critical, as the subject of the book is a complex one that likely surprised the author in the complexity of the situation, and also the dichotomies. Eustace is a man living out of time in many respects. He is full of conflicting outlooks and presentation. I believe he is traumatized by his upbringing as his home life and the treatment of him by his father even in adulthood is abusive. Eustace is like Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild, a child grown into a confused adult as the result of trauma and abuse in his upbringing.

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