{"product_id":"stronghold-isbn-9781984801715","title":"Stronghold","description":"\u003cb\u003ePNBA BESTSELLER • “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 \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eTravels in Siberia\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEditors’ Choice: \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review \u003c\/i\u003e• \u003ci\u003eOutside \u003c\/i\u003eMagazine • \u003ci\u003eNational Book Review \u003c\/i\u003e• \u003ci\u003eForbes\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the tradition of \u003ci\u003eMountains Beyond Mountains\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Orchid Thief, Stronghold\u003c\/i\u003e is Tucker Malarkey’s eye-opening account of one of the world’s greatest fly fishermen 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. When the salmon runs of the Pacific Northwest began to decline, Guido 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e An improbable and inspiring story, \u003ci\u003eStronghold\u003c\/i\u003e 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. Along the way, Rahr contends with scientists, conservationists, Russian oligarchs, corrupt officials, and unexpected allies in an attempt to secure a stronghold for the endangered salmon, an extraordinary keystone species whose demise would reverberate across the planet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTucker Malarkey, who joins Rahr in the Russian wilderness, 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 our own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eStronghold\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“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.”\u003cb\u003e—Hampton Sides, author of \u003ci\u003eIn the\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eKingdom of Ice \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eBlood and Thunder\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“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.”\u003cb\u003e—David James Duncan, author of \u003ci\u003eThe River Why\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Brothers K\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“The Melvillian showdown between this extraordinary man and his equally extraordinary quarry forms the climax of \u003ci\u003eStronghold.\u003c\/i\u003e . . . Rahr’s passion for salmon is contagious, and Malarkey channels it well. [She] is a novelist by trade, and it shows.”\u003cb\u003e—Nate Blakeslee, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “An on-the-ground and in-the-stream view of an unconventional salmon savant. Unflashy but effective prose that may remind you of Ian Frazier and John McPhee.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Remarkable . . . Malarkey conveys the art of [Rahr’s] fly-fishing and the evolution of his expansive knowledge [and captures his] purity, determination, and adroit handling of both prominent Americans and Russian oligarchs, born of his drive to protect ‘stronghold’ rivers—unspoiled by human development.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe National Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[\u003ci\u003eStronghold\u003c\/i\u003e] has plenty to intrigue and inspire.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Oregonian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Environmental writing as clear as the world’s most pristine waters . . . the journalistic equivalent of snagging an elusive, 80-pound trophy taimen on a fly.”\u003cb\u003e—Heller McAlpin, \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“All fishermen know that we have to fight to save the waters we love. \u003ci\u003eStronghold\u003c\/i\u003e tells a captivating story of the struggle to save the last great salmon rivers.”\u003cb\u003e—Johnny Morris, founder\/owner of Bass Pro Shops, owner of Cabela’s\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eStronghold\u003c\/i\u003e lets us tag along on the unpredictable adventure that is loving nature, and spares us neither its sacrifices nor its rewards. It's a book for everyone who has wished for a place where life is defended and upheld—for a place on earth that will make us whole.”\u003cb\u003e—Hope Jahren, author of \u003ci\u003eLab Girl\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “The wild salmon is the world’s most wondrous, most improbable fish, with a life that is epic, heroic, and tragic. Malarkey’s narrative action, pacing, and human hero—Guido Rahr—all rise to the level that the subject requires. With our nets, dams, and clear-cutting, we do salmon no favors and add greatly to their tragedy. This book is about a man who is in many ways a passionate master of fighting for one of earth’s living miracles. And within his story are many lessons for how to lead, get things done, and hold on to the imperative to keep at it—no matter what.”\u003cb\u003e—Carl Safina, author of \u003ci\u003eSong for the Blue Ocean\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBeyond Words\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In this compelling journey of discovery, Tucker Malarkey tells the story of a visionary who never fit with ‘normal’ society but came to understand in the deepest way how the Pacific salmon helped create—and possibly could help save—the precious wild ecosystems of the Pacific Rim.”\u003cb\u003e—Peter Stark, author of \u003ci\u003eYoung Washington\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAstoria\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As a passionate admirer of all that mother nature provides to give life authentic meaning, I am in awe of wild salmon. Read \u003ci\u003eStronghold,\u003c\/i\u003e the remarkable account of one man who is making a difference in our time on this precious planet.”\u003cb\u003e—Tom Brokaw\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“\u003ci\u003eStronghold\u003c\/i\u003e is first and foremost a story of adventure, danger, and intrigue. Full of surly Russian bush pilots, specially bred bear-defense huskies, and close-up encounters with salmon and taimen in some of the last unexplored waters on earth.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eFly Fisherman \u003c\/i\u003eMagazine\u003c\/b\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “When I’d gotten only a few pages into Tucker Malarkey’s \u003ci\u003eStronghold\u003c\/i\u003e, I realized someone could write as well as [Laura] Hillenbrand. Make a sentence forcing me to read it over and over in pure disbelief and wonderment. I had a love affair with wordsmithing extraordinaire, again.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eFly Life \u003c\/i\u003eMagazine\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[A] captivating narrative . . . Malarkey effortlessly glides among topics, making for an excellent mix of adventure, geopolitical dealmaking, and ecological and environmental reporting.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A vigorously told story of environmental activism that has succeeded despite the odds and an engaging journey into some of the planet’s wilder places.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eTucker Malarkey\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the critically acclaimed and nationally bestselling novels \u003ci\u003eAn Obvious Enchantment\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eResurrection\u003c\/i\u003e. Her career began at the \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, her love of human culture and wilderness have since taken her all over the world. She now lives with her son in Berkeley, California. Malarkey grew up fly-fishing, studied Sovietology, and has traveled to Russia numerous times. \u003ci\u003eStronghold\u003c\/i\u003e is her first major work of nonfiction.Chapter 1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe First Stronghold\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere were two fishing cabins on the Deschutes River, nestled up against the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. Guido’s family took a boat across the river and wheelbarrowed their provisions to their cabin. There were no roads on their side of the river, just miles of wilderness. The trails, mountains, canyons, draws, and creeks were part of their family mythology, a landscape both unknowable and intimate, like the river that flowed so full and strong even when they were not there, that changed every moment and changed not at all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere also, there were many ways to die. There were rattlesnakes coiled in the woodpile, scorpions sheltering under flat rocks, black widows spun into the corners of the boot room. None of them was as dangerous as the river itself; the river that had taken a beau of Guido’s mother and a beloved cousin, swallowed them from sight, tugging them into the whirling currents and underwater vortices.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe other cabin belonged to our family. My father and Guido’s mother were siblings, and in summers our families merged into one. There were five children in the Rahr family, and three in ours. Clustered around the same age, we were knit close in that rough country, playing games and making up stories that were too wild for most children.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGuido (pronounced Gee-doe) was the oldest of our pack of first cousins, and the only one who moved through our dangerous kingdom as if he belonged there. He had a natural grace and assurance and he rarely stepped wrong. As early as seven years old he would disappear for the day and rejoin us wordlessly, leaving us to wonder about the life he was leading, and how different it was from ours. He had been born with a natural intelligence that gave him a power we all recognized.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI tried to follow him. I was younger and a girl, but I was tough and I didn’t complain. He tolerated me sometimes, but only if I moved through the landscape as he did, mimicking his silent walk, my senses alert. I stood by as he divined where a blue racer lay resting in the shade of a sagebrush, or when he lifted a rock that harbored a scorpion. He was no more afraid of a rattlesnake than a mouse, and his quick hands could catch anything.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe told me that even with his feet on the ground, he saw the earth from far above. I believed, in some shamanistic way, that he could. I believed that from his place in the sky, the stories of the land were apparent to him: those of rock formations, springs, volcanoes, and landslides. And within these large stories were smaller ones, each as complex and complete as a miniature solar system. He could make me see these things, and so was a kind of god to me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI could not have guessed then how close we would one day be nor, indeed, that it was even possible to be close to such a boy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI knew in a childlike way that Guido wasn’t wired like most people. Nor was I. Since infancy, I had experienced brain tremors when for intense moments I trembled and shook and was unable to communicate. The episodes were both frightening and mysterious, for no doctor could explain why they happened. The tremors temporarily severed my connection to the world around me, and were terribly isolating. Guido was also isolated, but his was a strong isolation, and it was happy. Our slight maladaptations marked us as black sheep, the children the adults worried about most, the ones discussed in the hushed hours after dinner. But in those lonely, afflicted childhood years, Guido’s contrariety was a gift to me. When I was with him, I lost track of time. His simple, focused world delivered me from the painful vicissitudes of my own. I didn’t grasp then what an impossible child he was for his parents to raise—or how hurtful he was to the family he more or less ignored. My aunt Laurie later told me how she and Guido Sr. had struggled with a son who had no interest in learning what they had to teach him, or indeed in what the wider world considered a conventional education.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat Guido wanted, from infancy, was the freedom to pursue his own learning, unimpeded by the many adults who oversaw his life. Another world beckoned to him, and the wilder the better. When his parents denied him access to it, he ran away. By the age of four, Guido had run away multiple times to roam the fields and streams around their home in Oregon; the local police became familiar with the boy who vanished into Lake Oswego’s undeveloped swaths of suburbia, where he captured anything that moved and befriended it long enough to study it. Back in his room, he filled notebook upon notebook with renderings of insects, reptiles, and fish.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis mother was struck by the accuracy of his drawings. In preschool his precocity was noted by his teacher when she asked the class to draw what they thought their insides looked like. Most of the children drew circles filled with scribbles. Guido’s drawing had intestines and bones and organs. His teacher was so astonished she called his parents to inform them that their four-year-old had a rudimentary understanding of human biology. Laurie was mystified. The only way Guido could have known such things was by studying the family World Book Encyclopedia, and what four-year-old did that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis first-grade teacher, Helga Peters, told Laurie that she’d never had a student like Guido; that in her experience most children were like sausages—you could stuff them full of knowledge. But Guido wasn’t like that; he knew exactly what he wanted to learn—and it wasn’t what she was teaching.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe wrote, \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGuido has been the most original student during his first year in our primary grades. The academic tools, i.e. learning to read, learning to write and coping with mathematical concepts are to Guido an evil to be suffered. . . . He wants to read and write about the mysteries of nature, the creatures and the glorious wonders of creation. Although he can express himself magnificently in all art forms he is trying hard to read and to write, not easy when he has to match his excellent vocabulary. Since his speech is fast and slurred it is very hard for him to sound and spell words.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUp until this point, his parents had no idea anything was unusual about their firstborn other than that he was spirited and independent. “We didn’t know he was different,” Laurie said. “It was other people who told us he wasn’t normal.” As Guido grew older, the Rahrs began to struggle with their expectations of him. “That he simply wouldn’t cooperate came as a terrible shock to us,” Laurie remembered. Guido Sr. was bewildered by his son’s obstinacy and a character so unlike his own. The product of a genteel aristocratic German family, Guido Sr. was a pipe smoker and reader of poetry, and his love of nature ran to the romantic. He preferred fields of wildflowers to the high desert, the Alps to Oregon’s rivers, a vintage rifle to a fishing rod. The rest of the Rahr children pleased Guido Sr. greatly; they were well behaved and seemed to understand the order of things. His firstborn continued to thwart his expectations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne time the family set off for a posh tennis camp in Arizona to polish both their children’s games and their etiquette. On their first day there, Guido failed to show up for a single tennis class. Somehow he managed to escape the compound and slink into the wilderness to see what lived in the bushes and under the rocks of the John Gardiner Tennis Ranch. He knew there were collared lizards and banded geckos. Of particular interest were the chuckwalla lizards, native to the region. These lizards did not live in Oregon, and Guido was eager to get his hands on one. When the family returned after their day of tennis, Guido was nowhere to be found. A scream issued from his mother in the bathroom when she found the bathtub filled with foot-long chuckwalla lizards.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“We couldn’t keep track of him,” his mother said. “He always had his own agenda—and we were not party to it. It was only afterwards, when it was a fait accompli, that we learned what he was up to.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile he showed an aptitude for natural science, it was clear that something else was going on with Guido. He had an aversion to reading, and to any book that didn’t involve pictures of reptiles. Unlike his educated and literary parents, he did not enjoy school, nor did he excel in classes other than art. Midway through elementary school, Guido was diagnosed with dyslexia. Special tutors were called in and he was forcibly held to the studies he loathed. When he was released, he disappeared, melting into the woods like a spirit. In fourth grade, Guido showed a glimmer of a deeper capacity. On a hunch, his mother gave him Raymond Ditmars’s The Reptiles of North America. It was a thick, academic tome, filled with Latinate terms, scientific descriptions, and beautiful black-and-white plates and illustrations. “His eyes grew big,” she remembered. “He sat down with it right away. I think it was the first book he had ever wanted to read.” His parents watched as Guido bored into the pages of Ditmars’s guide. “It took him weeks to get through it, but he memorized it cover to cover.” Laurie Rahr was fascinated by Guido’s determination. It seemed that by sheer will, her nine-year-old son overcame his dyslexia.","brand":"Random House Trade Paperbacks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303650283749,"sku":"NP9781984801715","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781984801715.jpg?v=1767737450","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/stronghold-isbn-9781984801715","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}