The Final Frontiersman, James Campbell
The Final Frontiersman, James Campbell
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
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The Final Frontiersman
Heimo Korth and His Family, Alone in Alaska’s Arctic Wilderness

Author: James Campbell

Narrator: Dan Woren

Unabridged: 12 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/17/2015

Synopsis

The inspiration for The Last Alaskans—the eight-part documentary series on Animal PlanetHundreds 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 four decades later, Heimo lives with his wife approximately two hundred 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 forty-four degrees below zero—all the while cultivating the 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 most of us have never imagined: amid encroaching environmental pressures, apart from the herd, and alone in a stunning wilderness that—for now—remains the final frontier.

About James Campbell

James Campbell is a native of Wisconsin. He received his B.A. from Yale University and M.A. from the University of Colorado. He has written adventure travel, environmental, and military history pieces for Outside, National Geographic Adventure, Islands, Backpacker, Audubon, Coastal Living, Field and Stream, Sports Afield, Military History and many other magazines and newspapers. He is the author of several books, including The Final Frontiersman, which won one of two nonfiction prizes at the 2006 Midwest Booksellers Choice.

About Dan Woren

Dan Woren is an American voice actor and Earphones Award–winning narrator. He has worked extensively in animation, video games, and feature films. He is best known for his many roles in anime productions such as Bleach and as the voice of Sub-Zero in the video game Mortal Kombat.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Paul on October 16, 2022

A fascinating look at an impossibly alien lifestyle! Heimo Korth has lived in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for nearly thirty years, eking out a subsistence living some 250 miles from the nearest road. He moved to Alaska at twenty, eager to escape an abusive father and unwilling to submit......more

Goodreads review by Amber on January 15, 2009

I've had a hard time convincing people to read this book. My mom pestered me to read this for almost a year, and I reluctantly picked it up from the library. It is now one of my favorite books. If you think rugged individualism, environmental stewardship, integrity, and, old-school family values are......more

Goodreads review by Bob on February 11, 2018

I found this book oddly not compelling. It felt like the author didn't have enough material to make an entire book, so he padded it out with other examples and anecdotes. The focus on one man and his family was a promising subject, but truthfully this felt like a long magazine article rather than a......more

Goodreads review by April on February 03, 2018

I fell in love with the Korth family after watching them on The Last Alaskans. Edna is a witty, strong woman, and Heimo always has a smile on his face on the show, no matter what trial he was facing out in the Alaskan Wilderness. I was curious to go deeper into their story, to find out what brought......more

Goodreads review by John on July 23, 2012

Want to live off the grid? Better read this first. The author is brought out via chartered plane to visit Heimo Korth and his family on the Coleen River in Northwestern Alaska, hundreds of miles from the nearest road and seemingly centuries away from the hustle of Fort Yokun and Fairbanks. You learn......more

Quotes

“Campbell makes the case that an increasingly urban America—and its desires for oil, for timber, for neat and packaged wilderness—is killing and, worse, forgetting the frontier we once worshiped.” New York Times

“[One of] the greatest life-or-death tales ever told.” Esquire

“An icily gripping, intimate profile that stands up well beside Krakauer’s classic, and it stands too, as a kind of testament to the rough beauty of improbably wild dreams.” Men’s Journal

“What makes this more than just a profile of a fascinating personality is Campbell’s deft weaving of Alaskan history into Korth’s tale, showing how the recent influx of developers and ecotourists is making the trapping life ‘more of an anachronism with each passing year.’” Publishers Weekly

“This is a magical book in many ways; it tells of a land that most of us will never see and can’t imagine exists in today’s material world. Korth may be the last of the true frontiersmen, but Campbell has made certain that he will never be forgotten.” Library Journal

“A powerful evocation of a vanishing way of life.” Kirkus Reviews

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