Synopses & Reviews
In the tradition of Mountains Beyond Mountains and The Orchid Thief, Stronghold is Tucker Malarkey's gripping chronicle of an unlikely visionary and his crusade to protect the world's last bastion for wild salmon. From a young age, Guido Rahr was a misfit among his family and classmates, preferring to spend his time in the natural world. An obsessive fly-fisherman, Rahr noticed when the salmon runs of the Pacific Northwest began to decline — and was one of the few who understood why. As dams, industry, and climate change degraded the homes of these magnificent fish, Rahr saw that the salmon of the Pacific Rim were destined to go the way of their Atlantic brethren: near extinction.
An improbable and inspiring story, Stronghold takes us on a wild adventure, from Oregon to Alaska to one of the world's last remaining salmon strongholds in the Russian Far East, a landscape of ecological richness and diversity that is rapidly being developed for oil, gas, minerals, and timber. And along the way Rahr must navigate a tangled web of scientists, conservationists, Russian oligarchs, corrupt officials, impenetrable bureaucracies, and unexpected allies in order to set into motion a plan to secure the survival of the endangered salmon, an extraordinary keystone species whose demise would reverberate across the planet.
Tucker Malarkey, who accompanies Rahr to the Russian wilderness and reports on events from up close, has written a clarion call for a sustainable future, a remarkable work of natural history, and a riveting account of a species whose future is closely linked to that of our own.
Review
"As a passionate admirer of all that mother nature provides to give life authentic meaning, I am in awe of wild salmon. Read Stronghold, the remarkable account of one man who is making a difference in our time on this precious planet." Tom Brokaw
Review
"In this captivating narrative....Malarkey effortlessly glides among topics, making for an excellent mix of adventure, geopolitical dealmaking, and ecological and environmental reporting." Publishers Weekly
Review
"A powerful and inspiring story. Guido Rahr's mission to save the wild Pacific salmon leads him into adventures that make for a breathtakingly exciting read." Ian Frazier, author of Travels in Siberia
About the Author
Tucker Malarkey is the author of the critically acclaimed and national bestselling novels An Obvious Enchantment and Resurrection. With a career that began at the Washington Post, her love of human culture and wilderness have since taken her all over the world. She now lives with her son in Berkeley, California. Tucker grew up fly fishing, studied Sovietology, and has traveled to Russia numerous times. Stronghold is her first major work of non-fiction.
Tucker Malarkey on PowellsBooks.Blog
I remember the moment I sat up and took notice of the risks my cousin Guido Rahr was taking for fish — the same moment I started taking notes about his adventures, notes that would one day become a book. We were sitting in the grass outside our family fishing cabins on the Deschutes River where, since childhood, we had enjoyed days of wilderness and unbroken conversations...
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