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Adult Books - Nonfiction - History - U.S. History
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The Final Frontiersman: Heimo Korth and His Family, Alone in Alaska’s Arctic Wilderness.
Campbell, James (author).
May 2004. 320p. Atria, hardcover, $25 (0-7434-5313-1). 979.8.
REVIEW.
First published May 15, 2004 (Booklist).
By the mid-1970s, countercultural attitudes had propelled so many wilderness seekers to Alaska that writer John McPhee gave an account of them in Coming into the Country (1976). Over several visits in 2002, Campbell absorbed the life story of one such emigrant from the lower 48, Heimo Korth, who happens to be his cousin. Korth traps fur-bearing animals to generate what little cash he makes, and hunts caribou, moose, and fowl for his food. Campbell’s observation of the shooting and skinning this necessitates is objective, leaving nothing to imagination. Retrospectively, Campbell relates why Korth moved to Alaska (partly due to antagonism with his father), followed by incidents in his marriage to a native woman and their raising of three daughters (one of whom died in an awful canoeing accident) along a remote tributary of the Yukon River. Because the author perceptively describes how teenagers Rhonda and Krin feel about growing up in such isolation, the circle of interest for Campbell’s well-organized work will encompass fans of coming-of-age stories in addition to those intrigued by unconventional lifestyles. — Gilbert Taylor
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