Un vieil homme amoureux de son ranch au Nouveau-Mexique où il a toujours vécu, et où il acuueille chaque année son petit-fils, se voit un jour confronté à une nouvelle terrible : l'armée américaine, l'US Air Force, a décidé de réquisitionner ses terres pour y installer un champ de tir de missiles. La décision est brutale, l'homme ne veut rien savoir, est prêt à tout pour défendre ses terres et sa liberté, et son petit-fils se tient à ses côtés dans cette lutte sans merci. Une lutte déséquilibrée, poignante, basée sur des faits réels, dans ces espaces somptueux de l'Ouest américain.
Un beau roman aux images fortes et à des personnalités marquantes. ( )

A young boy goes to visit his grandfather in his mountain ranch. The grandfather refuses to leave the land although the U S Army is taking it over. Then the fun begins.

8. [Fire on the Mountain] by [[EdwardAbbey]]

I am on vacation (from retirement!) in the Arizona desert currently, where I always manage to read Abbey. He is one of my favorite authors, but I didn't personally find this to be one of his best books. This is some of his earliest writing, so needs to be understood with that in mind, as well as the times, when perhaps this was unusual thinking. For example he addresses issues of private property using ranchers versus developers, or rather government right of eminent domain. It is easy to sympathize with the rancher, whose father and grandfather built this place, until we are reminded that his forefathers stole the land from Indians. Abbey also projects this land ownership into the future, when who knows who will be living on it. The book IS full of Abbey's wonderful descriptions of wilderness and desert, well worth reading. ( )

The copy I read was purchased in Moab and is the first edition, ex-Moab Public Library copy, of the book. Was fun to read a book that had been read previously by hundreds. Simple read, but it seems to me that the movie Cat Ballou may have been based on this book, at least in part. ( )

"Is Heaven better than this place?" I asked.
"The climate's a little better here," Grandfather answered.
"Less humility," Lee said.

I lived in New Mexico for several years though not from the sparsely populated setting of Edward Abbey's novel, Fire on the Mountain. Still, it hardly matters where you are. There's something about the piercing blue sky and the forever landscape which, if given a chance, will become a part of you. Edward Abbey does a superior job describing this feeling; the first half of the novel being devoted almost entirely to this longing for the land.

Billy is the visiting grandson of the rancher John Vogelin, who is being forced off his land to make way for the expansion of the White Sands Missile Range. The story, told from Billy's point of view, shows the struggle of a stubbornly proud old man who won't go quietly. How do the values and convictions of one man and his grandson stand up against the might, and legal right, of the United States government? As is turns out, the answer is anything but simple. ( )