What the River Knows: Essays from the Heart of Alaska

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Alaska, one of our more recent acquisitions, is a region filled with challenging mysteries that attract tourists, adventurers, and wilderness enthusiasts. Author and intrepid wilderness guide Michael Engelhard has assembled a collection of almost thirty essays describing his interactions and impressions from his years as a wilderness guide throughout Alaska. His background in anthropology fires his interest in the native people of this region.

Besides serving as a reluctant hunting guide for bear hunters, he also led treks for the Outward Bound, teaching these youths the survival skills that he hopefully thinks might help shape their lives. When the author is not ill-advisedly, but successfully, ascending Mt. Denali, then he is crossing rapids, constantly kayaking, snowshoeing over fields, greeting black bears and sometimes grizzlies, backpacking throughout the state while admiring and reveling in the natural life and landscapes that he beholds. He works with raptors, herds yaks, tries to rescue a raven, and even ruefully is foiled by a squirrel.

The essays seam together almost like a diary mirroring the writer’s passion for nature and especially the wilderness. Those who love adventure will thrill reading these heartfelt Alaskan revelations.


Reviewed By:

Author Michael Engelhard
Star Count 5/5
Format Trade
Page Count 320 pages
Publisher Hancock House
Publish Date 01-Jun-2024
ISBN 9780888397782
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Issue June 2024
Category Science & Nature
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