The Last American Man published by Viking, 2002

Reviews:
"Gilbert has a jaunty, breathless style, and she paints a complicated portrait of American maleness that is as original as it is surprising."
-Publishers Weekly
"Gilbert, a top-notch journalist and fiction writer, braids keen and provocative observations about the American frontier, the myth of the mountain man, and the peculiar state of contemporary America with its 'profound alienation' from nature into her spirited and canny portrait."
-Donna Seaman, Booklist
“Wickedly well-written... There are two parts to The Last American Man: Conway‛s personal story, which is fascinating enough, and the way it entwines with the American preoccupation with robust, can-do masculinity.”
- James Gorman, The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)
"Elizabeth Gilbert has done a marvelous job of profiling Eustace Conway — a modern-day Jim Bridger whose every hour roaming American is laden with mythological magic. The Last American Man is, in fact, the best book of New Journalism to appear since Tom Wolfe published The Right Stuff. A truly delightful, outrageous, unforgettable saga."
-Douglas Brinkley
"The finest examination of American masculinity and wilderness since Jon Krakauer's 'Into The Wild.' To meet Eustace Conway is to be dazzled...Reading The Last American Man is like listening to a friend tell you about an ubelievable character over a bottle of house red."
-Outside Magazine
"Insightful...explores through the lens of Eustace Conway's particular life our modern infatuation with the myth of the pioneering man and succeeds in uncovering the human reality behind it."
-Los Angeles Times
"Conway is a character almost too good to be believed. In Gilbert, he may have found the perfect writer to tell his story."
-Atlantic Journal-Constitution
"Gilbert has written what may be her best book yet."
-Houston Chronicle