by Stark, Peter
First published 2010
Peter Stark sets out to find the most remote wilderness areas remaining in America. His childhood in a Wisconsin log cabin drives him to seek these blank spaces on modern maps. Stark travels to northern Maine's forests, central Pennsylvania's wild lands, New Mexico's Gila Wilderness, and southeast Oregon's empty territories. In each location, he uncovers layers of forgotten American history. These seemingly vacant places reveal stories of frontiersmen, fighters, naturalists, philosophers, immigrants, and native peoples. Stark connects these discoveries to the writings of Thoreau, Emerson, and John Muir, who first defined America's relationship with untamed land. His journey reveals how wilderness shaped the American character and national destiny. The book demonstrates that empty places actually contain the richest stories of how the nation formed.
Genres: nature, travel, adventure, non-fiction, biography-memoir, american-history
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: exploration, personal-journey
Setting: America, Wisconsin, Maine, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Oregon
Period: 19th-century, 20th-century
352 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books