From Kim Heacox, the acclaimed author of The Only Kayak and John Muir
and the Ice That Started a Fire, comes Rhythm of the Wild, an Alaska
memoir focused on Denali National Park. Music runs through every page of
this book, as do stories, rivers and wolves. At its heart, Rhythm of the
Wild is a love story. It begins in 1981 and ends in 2014, yet reaches
beyond the arc of time. Author and mountaineer Jonathan Waterman has
called Heacox "our northern Edward Abbey." In this book we find out why.
We hitchhike with Kim through Idaho, camp on the Colorado Plateau, and
fly off the sand cliffs of Hangman Creek with a little terrier named
Super Max, the Wonder Dog. We meet Zed, the Aborigine; Nine Fingers, the
blues guitarist; and Adolph Murie, the legendary wildlife biologist, who
dared to say that wolves should be protected, not persecuted. Kim also
reprises in this book his friend Richard Steele, a beloved character
from The Only Kayak. Some books are larger than their actual
subject--this is one. Part memoir, part exploration of Denali's
inspiring natural and human history, and part conservation polemic,
Rhythm of the Wild ranges from funny to provocative. It's a celebration
of--and a plea to restore and defend--the vibrant earth and our rightful
place in it.
