First Wilderness
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First Wilderness by Sam Keith
Fans of the Alaskan classic ONE MAN’S WILDERNESS will enjoy reading this memoir of how its author, Sam Keith, and its subject, Dick Proenneke, first met. After serving as a US Marine during World War II and attending college on the GI Bill, Sam Keith decided to seek adventure and acceptance in Alaska. He arrived on Kodiak Island in July, 1952, where he secured a job as a laborer on the Adak Navy base. He befriended a group of like-minded men there, including Dick Proenneke, who shared a love of the outdoors, hard work, and self-reliance. Keith explored the wilds of South Central Alaska while working on the Navy base, and later as a Stream Guard and Enforcement Patrolman. In his hunting and fishing trips with Dick and his friends, Keith found almost everything he sought. But at the end of three years, Keith decided to go Outside to pursue other dreams. Dick Proenneke tells him, “Sam, you know right well you don’t want to leave this country. Don’t give up on it. Me and you got to figure something out.” In 1973, Keith went on to write ONE MAN'S WILDERNESS: AN ALASKAN ODYSSEY, based on his dear friend’s journals and photography. It was reissued in 1999 and won a National Outdoor Book Award (NOBA). In 2003, portions of text from the book and some of Proenneke's 16mm movies were used in Alone in the Wilderness, which began appearing on US public television stations. The documentary follows Proenneke as he builds a log cabin with only hand tools, and includes reflections on wildlife, weather, and the natural scenery he sees around him. Sam Keith passed away in 2003. But in 2013, his son-in-law, children’s book author/illustrator Brian Lies, discovered in an archive box in their garage a book manuscript, originally written in 1974 after the publication of ONE MAN’S WILDERNESS. FIRST WILDERNESS is the story of Keith’s own experiences, at times harrowing, funny, and fascinating. Along with the original manuscript are photos and excerpts from his journals, letters, and notebooks, woven in to create a compelling and poignant memoir of search and discovery. Foreword by Nick Jans and Afterword by Laurel Lies (Sam Keith's daughter.)
"The synchronicity of Sam Keith and Dick Proenneke's friendship and bond through a love of the wilderness and an ability to record their adventures left us with the gift of ONE MAN'S WILDERNESSNow, once again Sam's words dance across the pages, bringing the reader on their own journey into the wilderness. What a treasure for his son-in-law and daughter to find." —Bob Swerer, producer of ALONE IN THE WILDERNESS documentary
“This book is a magic carpet ride back to an Alaska we can all learn from and be inspired by. Thank you, Sam Keith.” —Kim Heacox, author of THE ONLY KAYAK and JOHN MUIR AND THE ICE THAT STARTED A FIRE.
“Sam Keith’s ONE MAN’S WILDERNESS fired the imaginations of many to discover Alaska’s wild places, including my own journey to homestead a piece of wilderness in the Far North. Now, FIRST WILDERNESS, Keith’s compelling story, comes full-circle to offer a glimpse of why dreamers continue to be drawn to Alaska’s mystical wild not only to quench their thirst for adventure, but also to seek answers to define their character.” —Roy Corral, photographer, WHAT THE ELDERS HAVE TAUGHT US
"I was so excited to read this book! I love ONE MAN'S WILDERNESS and the inspiring account of self-discovery by Sam Keith is a great companion to that. I can't wait to share it with readers."—Joni, Maria's Bookshop, Durango, CO.
Sam Keith is remembered for chronicling the life in the Alaska wilderness of his friend Dick Proenneke, arguably the world’s most famous recluse. He did it in One Man’s Wilderness, which has sold 400,000 copies since its publication in 1973. The book, along with movie footage Keith shot, was the basis for one of PBS’s most popular documentaries. This book is a prequel . . . an unpublished manuscript and letters Keith wrote to his family about his own Alaska adventures. —Foreword Reviews
"Keith's 1972 best seller One Man's Wilderness described his good friend Dick Proenneke's solitary life in the wilds of Alaska. After Keith's death, his son-in-law found this manuscript chronicling the author's own story as a young man in Alaska Territory in the early 1950s. Keith, not knowing what to do with his life, goes to Alaska to find himself and do some writing. He lands a job as a civilian construction worker at a U.S. naval station on Kodiak Island, AK, and is later employed by the Fish and Wildlife Service as a temporary fish warden. He works hard but also has time to explore the remote Alaskan wilderness, taking movies and photographs and spending many hours fishing, as well as participating in bear and moose hunts. His memoir envelops the reader in the sights and sounds of the state's awe-inspiring weather and scenery, details the lives of the plants and animals that inhabit the places Keith visits, and expresses his joy in fishing trips. VERDICT A beautifully written memoir of Alaska that will appeal to nature lovers, fishermen, hunters, and wilderness seekers." —Library Journal
“This book is a magic carpet ride back to an Alaska we can all learn from and be inspired by. Thank you, Sam Keith.” —Kim Heacox, author of THE ONLY KAYAK and JOHN MUIR AND THE ICE THAT STARTED A FIRE.
“Sam Keith’s ONE MAN’S WILDERNESS fired the imaginations of many to discover Alaska’s wild places, including my own journey to homestead a piece of wilderness in the Far North. Now, FIRST WILDERNESS, Keith’s compelling story, comes full-circle to offer a glimpse of why dreamers continue to be drawn to Alaska’s mystical wild not only to quench their thirst for adventure, but also to seek answers to define their character.” —Roy Corral, photographer, WHAT THE ELDERS HAVE TAUGHT US
"I was so excited to read this book! I love ONE MAN'S WILDERNESS and the inspiring account of self-discovery by Sam Keith is a great companion to that. I can't wait to share it with readers."—Joni, Maria's Bookshop, Durango, CO.
Sam Keith is remembered for chronicling the life in the Alaska wilderness of his friend Dick Proenneke, arguably the world’s most famous recluse. He did it in One Man’s Wilderness, which has sold 400,000 copies since its publication in 1973. The book, along with movie footage Keith shot, was the basis for one of PBS’s most popular documentaries. This book is a prequel . . . an unpublished manuscript and letters Keith wrote to his family about his own Alaska adventures. —Foreword Reviews
"Keith's 1972 best seller One Man's Wilderness described his good friend Dick Proenneke's solitary life in the wilds of Alaska. After Keith's death, his son-in-law found this manuscript chronicling the author's own story as a young man in Alaska Territory in the early 1950s. Keith, not knowing what to do with his life, goes to Alaska to find himself and do some writing. He lands a job as a civilian construction worker at a U.S. naval station on Kodiak Island, AK, and is later employed by the Fish and Wildlife Service as a temporary fish warden. He works hard but also has time to explore the remote Alaskan wilderness, taking movies and photographs and spending many hours fishing, as well as participating in bear and moose hunts. His memoir envelops the reader in the sights and sounds of the state's awe-inspiring weather and scenery, details the lives of the plants and animals that inhabit the places Keith visits, and expresses his joy in fishing trips. VERDICT A beautifully written memoir of Alaska that will appeal to nature lovers, fishermen, hunters, and wilderness seekers." —Library Journal
Samuel Sam M. Keith grew up in New England and worked in the CCC during the Great Depression. During World War II he served as a air combat crewman in the Pacific. After his military service ended, Sam attended and graduated from Cornell University. He followed his dream to go to Alaska where he met Richard Dick Proenneke in the 1950s on Kodiak Island. He also worked on the Alaska Peninsula and at Kenai for a total of three years before returning to Massachusetts where he met his future wife, Jane. Then he married Jane and began a 26-year career teaching English and eventually becoming an assistant vice principal. In August 1970 he visited Dick's new log cabin on Lake Clark in the wilderness of Alaska. Sam convinced Dick to let him borrow his journals from 1968-1969 as the factual basis for writing the now best-selling book, ONE MAN'S WILDERNESS. Sam passed away in Anderson, South Carolina on March 28, 2003.
Richard Dick Louis Proenneke was born in 1916 in Primrose, Iowa and dropped out of high school in nearby Donnellson, Iowa to work on farms during the Great Depression in the early 1930s. In 1939 he undertook a long working road trip through the West. On December 8, 1941 he joined the U.S. Navy and served with distinction until he developed rheumatic fever and was given a medical discharge from the Navy in 1945. After some work in Oregon after his discharge, he left for Alaska in 1950. His work in Alaska centered around commercial fishing, a mechanic, and a heavy equipment operator. He first visited Twin Lakes in 1962. He build his cabin at Twin Lakes by cutting logs for it in the summer of 1967. He lived in his cabin until 1998 when he donated the cabin and his possessions to the U.S. National Park Service and left to live with his brother in California. Today, Dick Proenneke's cabin still sits on Upper Twin Lake in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. Dick passed away in Hemet, California on April 20, 2003, a few weeks after his friend, Sam Keith had pass away.
Richard Dick Louis Proenneke was born in 1916 in Primrose, Iowa and dropped out of high school in nearby Donnellson, Iowa to work on farms during the Great Depression in the early 1930s. In 1939 he undertook a long working road trip through the West. On December 8, 1941 he joined the U.S. Navy and served with distinction until he developed rheumatic fever and was given a medical discharge from the Navy in 1945. After some work in Oregon after his discharge, he left for Alaska in 1950. His work in Alaska centered around commercial fishing, a mechanic, and a heavy equipment operator. He first visited Twin Lakes in 1962. He build his cabin at Twin Lakes by cutting logs for it in the summer of 1967. He lived in his cabin until 1998 when he donated the cabin and his possessions to the U.S. National Park Service and left to live with his brother in California. Today, Dick Proenneke's cabin still sits on Upper Twin Lake in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. Dick passed away in Hemet, California on April 20, 2003, a few weeks after his friend, Sam Keith had pass away.
| SKU | Nicht verfügbar |
| ISBN 13 | 9781941821091 |
| ISBN 10 | 194182109X |
| Titel | First Wilderness |
| Autor | Sam Keith |
| Buchzustand | Nicht verfügbar |
| Bindungsart | Paperback |
| Verlag | Graphic Arts Center Publishing Co |
| Erscheinungsjahr | 2014-10-02 |
| Seitenanzahl | 272 |
| Hinweis auf dem Einband | Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden. |
| Hinweis | Nicht verfügbar |