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The Final Frontiersman: Heimo Korth and His Family, Alone in Alaska's Arctic Wilderness
written by James Campbell
Studio : Atria
by Atria
Publisher : Atria
Released : 2005-09-13
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780743453141
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 26 reviews)
List Price : $14.00
Our Price : $4.79
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Product Description |
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Hundreds of hardy people have tried to carve a living in the Alaskan bush, but few have succeeded as consistently as Heimo Korth. Originally from Wisconsin, Heimo traveled to the Arctic wilderness in his feverous twenties. Now, more than three decades later, Heimo lives with his wife and two daughters approximately 200 miles from civilization -- a sustainable, nomadic life bounded by the migrating caribou, the dangers of swollen rivers, and by the very exigencies of daily existence. In The Final Frontiersman, Heimo's cousin James Campbell chronicles the Korth family's amazing experience, their adventures, and the tragedy that continues to shape their lives. With a deft voice and in spectacular, at times unimaginable detail, Campbell invites us into Heimo's heartland and home. The Korths wait patiently for a small plane to deliver their provisions, listen to distant chatter on the radio, and go sledding at 44° below zero -- all the while cultivating their hard-learned survival skills that stand between them and a terrible fate. Awe-inspiring and memorable, The Final Frontiersman reads like a rustic version of the American Dream and reveals for the first time a life undreamed by most of us: amid encroaching environmental pressures, apart from the herd, and alone in a stunning wilderness that for now, at least, remains the final frontier. |
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A great read! |
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This is a real favorite of mine. A must read for those who love wilderness and those who live eccentric lives. This book brought me to tears at one point. I highly recommend it. |
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One of the best "Bush' reads out there. |
What a great book. I especially love the context as I am one of those shut out by the '78 and subsequent decisions. I spent four years in the interior, but it was soft cheechako life by comparison. There really aren't many willing to do what the Korth's do and they should be admired for the uncompromising lifestyle they choose to sacrifice for.
I have been working into a remote and self sufficient lifestyle for as long as I can remember, and it is all but impossible. It takes more determination in every respect than most realize.
I hope that the Korth's daughters soon realize (or have now realized) the true toll of their upbringing. They may have been shorted in a great many respects, but blessed in so many more. They are the unwitting adventurers maybe, but the last of a rare and important breed nonetheless. They have plenty of time to catch up on pop culture and the benefits of a consumptive drive up society.
Heimo ought to know that the young do best when kept to the nest until they really know how to fly. He should'nt feel guilt for having one of the best nests in our world today. Isolation is fortification maybe even innoculation against what, not only Savoogna, but the world has become.
My envy and congratulations for holding on to the vital link before it is severed! |
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Family Life in the Arctic |
The Final Frontiersman is the true account of the wilderness life of Heimo Korth and his family. Heimo grew up in Wisconsin but followed a dream to live in the bush in Alaska. Heimo is a "successful" subsistence trapper and hunter in the ANWR where you can freeze at -55 in the winter and the clouds of mosquitoes torment you in the short summer. The sun disappears for over a month in the winter and there is no night in summer. Heimo and his family spend most of the year in the bush where their nearest neighbor is more than a hundred miles away--human neighbor that is; bears, wolves, wolverines, caribou, and many other kinds of animals abound. Heimo is successful in the sense that he and his family survive, all except one. Theirs is a tough life, and Heimo is a tough but likable character.
I enjoyed reading this book. The author, Heimo's cousin, has a direct, clear writing style and a good sense of pacing. The story reminded me in some ways of The Big House by George Colt: "Here is the story of my (extended) family and all my weird relatives" and like The Big House this book could have used extensive editing. We get too much detail about Heimo and his brood, who in fact are not really all that weird or exceptional after all.
The author presents this work as a meditation on the meaning of wilderness and a vital but disappearing American way of life, but he never manages to infuse these issues of wilderness and the struggle to survive with a sense of metaphysical profundity. Heimo's work and life all come off as somewhat mundane, if exceptionally lonely and uncomfortable; even deprived and brutal (Heimo kills large numbers of furbearing animals for a living). In the end, the author failed to communicate why Heimo would choose such a life, or what about it is attractive. I got the sense that neither the author, nor Heimo's family, nor Heimo himself understand Heimo. He remains a discomforting enigma.
Like The Big House, The Final Frontiersman is most interesting as an exploration of family and what it means to be involved in this most natural and troubling human institution. |
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Fantastic people |
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There are not very many people I would like to meet, but Heimo and his family are at the top of my list. Fantastic story of some extraordinary folks. |
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The Final Frontiersman: Heimo Korth and His Family |
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Really painted a good picture of what life was like living in the cold Alaskan wilderness. |
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