Man Solo

photo: William Miller

Elizabeth Gilbert makes a man of herself

Details

The Last American Man
By Elizabeth Gilbert
Viking, 271 pp., $24.95
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More About

• Eustace Conway
• Elizabeth Gilbert
• East Village (Manhattan)
• Appalachian National Scenic Trail

Gilbert has crafted an engaging and revealing book, filled with solid research. The question is, does she realize how chilling her portrayal of our national masculine ideal is? Or how commonplace her hero's anger and rigidity appear once the buckskin is peeled away? If this is what passes for a man in America, Eustace Conway isn't the last one. Not by a long shot.