SOURCE: Long, David. “Rick Bass: Lessons from the Wilderness.” Publishers Weekly 242, no. 26 (26 June 1995): 83-4.

In the following essay, Long highlights the development of Bass's writing career, his writing process, and the intersection of his fiction and environmental activism.

Montana has bred, or attracted, more than its share of writers, but few have craved its isolation or valued its wildness with the passion of Rick Bass. “Do I want more society or less? I think the question is going in the wrong direction,” he says. “In our society it's going to be hard to get enough remoteness, or enough time with one's self. I wouldn't be so cornball as to say I think all the great lessons that lie ahead of us are to be found in the woods, but the more time I spend here, the more I'm impressed with the way we ignore what's in the woods...