George Hayduke

George Washington Hayduke is a fictional character in Edward Abbey's novels The Monkey Wrench Gangand Hayduke Lives! Hayduke is an ex-Green Beret, one-time explosives expert and medical assistant to the Viet Cong, and an American environmentalist hero. The character of Hayduke was based on his friend and author, Doug Peacock, a Vietnam vet that Abbey befriended and traveled with in the Southwest United States (See Doug Peacock on Wikipedia). He i... more

George Washington Hayduke is a fictional character in Edward Abbey's novels The Monkey Wrench Gangand Hayduke Lives! Hayduke is an ex-Green Beret, one-time explosives expert and medical assistant to the Viet Cong, and an American environmentalist hero. The character of Hayduke was based on his friend and author, Doug Peacock, a Vietnam vet that Abbey befriended and traveled with in the Southwest United States (See Doug Peacock on Wikipedia). He is most likely named after the Haiduks, rebels in the Ottoman Empire, and one of Eric Hobsbawm's archetypal bandits. Hayduke is Abbey's codification of the wants, longings, and desires of the average male environmentalist awash in the frustrations of corporate greed and corruption where the voice of the little people remain unheard -- until the little people rise up and take direct action because, as Abbey's Monkey Wrench Gang puts it, "somebody has to do it." One of the most relevant aspect of Hayduke as a symbol -- as an archetype, in fact --... less