The stirring memoir of one man's harrowing solo adventure in the Alaskan wilderness, and his discoveries about the home he leaves behind. 'This is the best wilderness narrative I've read for a long time. The tension between nature at its most exquisite and most lethal makes this the story of our times. A remarkable book' Nicholas Crane, TV presenter and author of Coast In the spring of 2007, hard on the heels of the worst winter in the history of Juneau, Alaska, Lynn Schooler finds himself facing the far side of middle age and exhausted by labouring to handcraft a home as his marriage slips away. Seeking solace and escape in nature, he sets out on a solo journey into the Alaskan wilderness, travelling first by small boat across the formidable Gulf of Alaska, then on foot along one of the wildest coastlines in North America. Walking Home is filled with stunning observations of the natural world, and rife with nail-biting adventure as Schooler fords swollen rivers and eludes aggressive grizzlies. But more important, it is a story about finding wholeness-and a sense of humanity-in the wild. His is a solitary journey, but Schooler is never alone; human stories people the landscape-tales of trappers, explorers, marooned sailors, and hermits, as well as the mythology of the region's Tlingit Indians. Alone in the middle of several thousand square miles of wilderness, Schooler conjures the souls of travellers past to learn how the trials of life may be better borne with the help and community of others. In Walking Home Schooler creates a conversation between the human and the natural, the past and present, and investigates, with elegance and soul, what it means to be a part of the flow of human history.

"A book for every man and woman who loves the wilderness. One who reads this volume walks with Bob Marshall on treacherous trails, climbs with him to the top of unnamed mountains, struggles with him to escape the swift rise of dangerous rivers, faces grizzly bears unarmed, feels the joy of being alone in an empty wilderness, and sees through a poet's eyes the great glories of the Alaskan mountains."--William O. Douglas "For all who love wild places and the feeling of wilderness exploration this book will be a treasure."--Sigurd F. Olson

“Whenever I open it, I find another marvelous tidbit, like Viereck’s description of uses for soft, acidic plant sphagnum, or peat moss, the plant often found chinking the walls of log cabins…” - Fairbanks News-Miner This guide to Alaskan wild plants, native and introduced, is a great way to acquaint people with Alaskan wild plants that can be used to promote health and healing, use for emergency first-aid care, or to maintain wellness. More than fifty plant species are described with information on habitat and distribution as well as general information on how each one can be used as medicine. This natural history of some of Alaska’s medicinal plants is not intended to serve the purpose of a self-care manual of medicine, but rather be useful to persons in cities, on farms, and in the wilderness, whether they are in Alaska for recreation, hunting, fishing. or work. Others, inadvertently stranded as a result of an accident or disaster, may find themselves in need of help from healing plants. Dr. Eleanor G. Viereck presents useful and fascinating information about trees, flowers, and shrubs accompanied by accurately rendered line drawing of the vegetation. There are additional notes on history and folklore, poisonous species that can be easily confused with useful ones, and Dr. Viereck's experience with the plants. She tells where to find each plant and discusses plant collecting in general and how to brew healthful herb teas. An illustrated glossary, cross-references of therapeutic uses of specific plants, and a thorough bibliography completes this valuable contribution to plant lore.

Into the Wild meets Helter Skelter in this riveting true story of a modern-day homesteading family in the deepest reaches of the Alaskan wilderness—and of the chilling secrets of its maniacal, spellbinding patriarch. When Papa Pilgrim, his wife, and their fifteen children appeared in the Alaska frontier outpost of McCarthy, their new neighbors saw them as a shining example of the homespun Christian ideal. But behind the family's proud piety and beautiful old-timey music lay Pilgrim's dark past: his strange connection to the Kennedy assassination and a trail of chaos and anguish that followed him from Dallas and New Mexico. Pilgrim soon sparked a tense confrontation with the National Park Service fiercely dividing the community over where a citizen’s rights end and the government’s power begins. As the battle grew more intense, the turmoil in his brood made it increasingly difficult to tell whether his children were messianic followers or hostages in desperate need of rescue. In this powerful piece of Americana, written with uncommon grace and high drama, veteran Alaska journalist, Tom Kizzia uses his unparalleled access to capture an era-defining clash between environmentalists and pioneers ignited by a mesmerizing sociopath who held a town and a family captive.

An FBI agent must put her faith in prisoner and former Navy SEAL Mason Boone when they're stranded together in the wilderness. Scorching, nail-biting romantic suspense from New York Times bestselling author Helena Newbury.