About this item
"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 In the tradition of Mountains Beyond Mountains and The Orchid Thief, Stronghold is Tucker Malarkey's gripping account of an unlikely visionary and his crusade to protect the world's last bastion of 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.Advance praise for Stronghold"This book isn't just about fish, it's about life itself and the fragile unseen threads that connect all creatures across this beleaguered orb we call home. Guido Rahr's quest to save the world's wild salmon should serve as an inspiration - and a provocation - for us all, and Tucker Malarkey's exquisite book captures Rahr's weird and wonderful story with poignancy, humor, and grace." - Hampton Sides, author of In the Kingdom of Ice and Blood and Thunder"A crazy-good, intensely lived book that reads like an international thriller - only it's our beloved salmon playing the part of diamonds or oil or gold." - David James Duncan, author of The River Why and The Brothers K
About the Author
Tucker Malarkey is the author of the critically acclaimed and national bestselling novels An Obvious Enchantment and Resurrection. Stronghold, her first major work of non-fiction, describes one man's journey to save salmon habitat in the US and Russia. Stronghold, due out in paperback in October 2020, was an editor's pick for The New York Times, National Book Review, Outside and Forbes. With a career that began at The Washington Post, Tucker's love of human culture and wilderness have since taken her all over the world. She now lives with her son in Berkeley, California. For more information, please visit tuckermalarkey.com
