Customer Reviews

Another Country: Journeying Toward the Cherokee Mountains

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I've hiked and fished the Southern Highlands for years, especially the area in and around the Smoky Mt. National Park. Reading Another Country has shown me this place in a completely new light. He compares these mountains at one point to a palimpsest--a scraped-over parchment on which old texts leave faint traces. This book records Camuto's efforts to track these traces, which of course are quickly vanishing if not already gone. By giving these mountains back their ancient names, by telling stories the Cherokee told their children about their homeland, by delving into the natural and human history of the places he walks, by honoring the memories of the ones who are gone, and by contextualizing the beleaguered efforts to bring the red wolf back to its former ground, Camuto opens up layer upon layer of meaning for us who seek out the last wild places without always knowing why. An unforgettable book.

I've searched for years for just the right book that sums up my feelings for lost wilderness and finally found it with this book. I find Mr. Camuto's contrast with William Bartram's descriptions of the mountains both startling and sad. I've walked these mountains for over 30 years and in just the last 10 have I begun to realize the tragic consequences of overdevelopment and urban sprawl. Mountains and streams once largely clean and pristine now are considered off limits for fishing and drinking and I wonder why we have no love for the complexity of our natural environment. Like a Sand County Almanac, Chris Camuto has begun a modern discussion of the land ethic. An ethic our country, I fear, has so far refused to acknowledge or accept.

A wonderfully written book about the red wolf reintroduction into the blue ridge mountains and the land of the Cherokee indians. Tells the history of the European exploration of the mountains with DeSoto woven into how red wolves were put back into their original habitat.

Its a very hard book to put down.

Have you ever read a book that you loved reading so much you could not stand to finish? Another Country was such a book for me. I have felt so alone for so long as I have both loved my time in the outdoors and equally mourned the loss of it. Every time I pass a mountain and see the red-dirt scar of a new home perched atop it, every time I see a wooded lot scalped completely clean of all life for a new development, I mourn. Christopher Camuto has helped me feel less alone and helped me more completely appreciate the oft-ignored gift of beauty, variety, and history that the land, the Cherokee, and the wolf give us.

Another Country is a search for the soul of a land almost destroyed. Christopher Camuto writes a powerful narrative describing his exploration of the Cherokee homeland in the appalachians. He seeks communion, a connection he can sense in what is left of the natural landscape and wildness around him. It is as elusive as the dying Cherokee myths, as tangible as the arrowheads and village sites he finds. Camuto refers to the Appalacians as the Cherokee Mountains, their former nomenclature, because it is to the Cherokees they really belong. The rape and exploitation of their land parallels the rape and exploitation of their culture. Camuto's search for a wildness, that now remains only in remnants, is set in counterpoint to the reintroduction of the red wolf into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The most important clan animal of the Cherokee, it is symbolic of the differences between the Cherokee and the early Europeans. One revered its wildness and sought to preserve it. The other despised and killed it. One honored the wolf's home, seeking harmony with the land and its spirits. The other saw something untamed that must be destroyed. The author's journey begins as the wolves are being set free. Like many of the members of this first Canus Rufus release who step beyond their shrinking boundaries, Camuto confronts the vestiges of civilization at almost every turn. Set against continual references to Native-American mythology, and the history of the area, Camuto's book allows the reader to share his insight into the Cherokee view of the world. Unlike many who write about early culture, he does not attempt to steal it as his own. His statement that he is not Cherokee and thus can never totally understand, adds credibility to the objectiveness of his observations. It also demonstrates humbleness of endeavor, a bow of respect to the Cherokee nation. The book is firmly rooted in place as it combines the ethereal with the tangible landscape. Those who cherish wildness and honor those first here, will also treasure this book. In many ways , it is a sad obituary, lamenting that which was, as it examines what is left. The reintroduction of the red wolf represents one small, but hopeful, step in the restoration of that which is lost.

to be rushed through while reading it. It is a book meant to be savored, thought-upon and reflected upon. This book is haunting in its thoughts and language as the author travels the backcountry of the Great Smoky Mountains. It is also a book on the re-introduction of the Red Wolf back into its natural habitat. It is also a book that explores the history of the Cherokees, who used to roam over the land and lived off the vast wealth of the forest, mountains and rivers before driven off in the unnatural (or perhaps natural) stem of progress. It is a reflective book meant to be savored over a period of time, as the language of the author is dense, lyrical and very thoughtful. It is a beautiful book. It is a sad book. It is a book meant to capture a time now lost to the mists of time.

I picked this book up while visiting the Great Smoky Mountains last September. Out of the pile of books I bought then, this was the first one I picked up and I put it down after a month since it was too much to read in the midst of a crazy lifestyle. I picked it up again several months later to savor the words and thoughts of this author. Then I put it down again. This last few days, I picked it up since I have a craving to go back to the Mountains and teach my children what has happened in the past and what may happen in the future ~~ and I finished it in two days.

Christopher Camuto is a wonderful naturalist writer and a keen observer. I have only been to the Great Smoky Mountains once and we did your basic touristy things simply because my boys were too young to even hike the regular trails. That doesn't mean that we're not going to eventually because we do want to in the future. We want our children to preserve their heritage, what is left of it. We want them to see the magical wonder of being so close to nature and see the natural beauty of this world. And reading this book helped confirm that "want." Camuto goes back and forth from talking about the Red Wolf program in the Great Smoky Mountains, the Cherokee visions and his own observations while hiking along forgotten trails. They all tie together in a beautiful book that is sure to be treasured.

Need an introduction to Mother Nature and her history? I think you should start with this one. It's an unforgettable journey back through the mists of time.

7-30-06

I first read this book after coming across it in my local library. I checked it out and found myself lovingly dipping into it, looking forward to it each time I picked it up, savoring every moment, and thinking of it all the time I had to put it down. I soon found that I couldn't bear to turn it in (although I loved the idea that others would discover it there as did I). So I came here and bought it, to treasure:

For anyone who loves the richness of this land (or ANY land), and have wondered about its history, this book is a treasure. If you've wondered about the wildness that lives unseen deep in the hills, this book is a treasure. If you just want exceptional armchair adventure high in the Smokies and the Blue Ridge, this is ... well, you know.

But instead of reading this as my recommendation, read this as what I experienced in this book. Which is what ANY good book should do - not just read through, but to EXPERIENCE fully, as if you are there. And, better, to CHANGE you and enrich you.

Of course, I am a lifelong Appalachian mountain devotee, so I'm biased. But anyone who loves mountains, and loves the rich history and culture (wild and human) of a place, you will appreciate it. Camuto's writing takes you there, so that you feel the wind on your face, smell the crisp mountain air, hear the howl of the red wolf -
But I digress.
I deeply enjoyed this book, and I hope it will move you as it did me.

PS - If you liked this, you will enjoy "Where There Are Mountains: An Environmental History of the Southern Appalachians" by Donald Edward Davis. While somewhat more technical, it still will take you back to the southern Appalachians, long before the white settlers and explorers came to take it from the Cherokees and cleared so much of the land. The picture it paints of vast open forests of old-growth Chestnut trees (pre-blight), with deer and bison grazing on its mast beneath, massive flocks of wild turkeys nearby... is enough to fire your imagination.

Most of all, get out there and enjoy the mountains!