Edward Abbey on How to Live and How to Die

Edward Abbey (January 29, 1927–March 14, 1989) graduated high school and, anticipating conscription into the military at eighteen, explored the American Southwest by hitchhiking, hopping freight trains, riding buses, and walking. After returning to Pennsylvania, he was drafted and served two years as a military police officer in occupied Italy, where he was defiant of authority, opposed to the war, and was demoted twice before being honorably discharged.