Edges of the Earth: A Man, a Woman, a Child in the Alaskan Wilderness [Hardcover]

Richard Leo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1991

Chronicles the adventures of a Chicago-born, Harvard-educated man who left civilization behind to forge a new life in the Alaskan wilderness with his family. Reprint. PW.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1981 Leo, weary of New York City, persuaded his girlfriend to escape with him into the Alaskan wilderness. He built a homestead on a ridge near Mount McKinley, a spot so remote there are no people nor roads for 100 square miles; building supplies had to be dropped by helicopter. Leo tells the story of his odyssey to this beautiful land: how he learned to be self-sufficient, construct a log house, manage a team of sled dogs. He also describes the deterioration of his relationship wtih Melissa, who made a valiant effort to adjust but was eventually defeated by the isolation. When she departed, soon after the birth of their son, Janus, whom she left behind, she shattered his dream of living as a family in the wilderness. Today the author spends much of the year in the woods with his son. Leo's absorbing story is filled with adventure as well as emotion.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Leo and his lover, Melissa, quit their New York jobs in 1981 and move to a remote region of Alaska. Through luck, chutzpa, tenacity, and occasional jobs in Anchorage, Leo manages to stick it out. Unable to bear isolation, Melissa departs. Leo is left with the task of raising their young son, Janus, as a "wilderness child." While Leo's account of this homesteading is touted as "a true story," it reads as smoothly as a novel. Leo, sometimes poetic and often comic, writes superbly of his encounters with the people, fauna, extreme weather, and especially the breathtaking beauty of Alaska. Highly recommended. BOMC and Quality Paperback Book Club Alternate; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/91.
- J.F. Husband, Framingham State Coll., Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 303 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co; 1st edition (October 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805015752
• ISBN-13: 978-0805015751
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,519,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Truly Unique Adventure in the Alaskan Wilderness!, June 8, 2000

By 

Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Edges of the Earth: A Man, a Woman, a Child in the Alaskan Wilderness (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book, a true tale of the ultimate daydreamer's adventure taking on flesh and bones through the personal experiences of the young author, Richard Leo. In many ways the effort is a foolhardy and dangerous ones, and one comes to points of exasperation with his arrogance, frenzies, and almost mystical sensibilities as he turns from a 20's something Harvard-educated urban dweller with less than $1,000 to his name into some kind of hopped-up Alaskan mountain man. This guy actually drags his girl friend deep into the Alaskan wilderness to begin a life of what he hopes will be the real sensations and genuine life experiences of someone unfettered by civilization, and succeeds almost beyond belief. They single-handedly construct a log cabin good enough to live in, forage for food, and finds a way to eke out a living as they struggle to survive. Along the way they have a son, who the author feels he must give the opportunity to grow up naturally, without all the cultural distractions of the modern world.

Of course, there is a price to pay for such bold and foolhardy adventurism, and Leo pays it by way of isolation, deprivation, and dealing with the elements. Before the smoke clears, his girlfriend/wife has exhausted her patience and tolerance for the difficult living conditions and the incredible isolation, and flees in desperation back to something better approximating normal human contact and civilization. Thus Leo and son are left to find their own truths and their own future in the splendid isolation of the Alaskan tundra in sight of Mount McKinley. This is a remarkable tale, told in brash but sometimes soaring prose by a gifted young writer, and I soon recognized that often my frustration was with the fact that he kept succeeding at things I thought were dangerously foolish to attempt.

Finally I realized somewhere along the way that my concern was exactly the reason I am sitting in this armchair reading the book instead of following in his footsteps. I am too settled and "civilized' to try to do what he does with fervor and enthusiasm, and it is this remarkable quality of his, his zany and almost mystical faith in himself that makes the book so interesting and so easy to read. One caution; he is not an easy guy to empathize with, and he sometimes has an annoying arrogance, self-absorption and a tendency toward self-righteousness that is hard to bear, but you will enjoy his tale and all the strange and off-beat characters he bumps into, interacts with, and includes in this superbly well-written voyage of self-realization and discovery. The book is curently 'out of print', but I trust you can find it through a good search as a used commodity. By the way, if publishers can find an excuse to put books like "Running to the Mountain" about a New Jersey suburbanite's silly attempts to become a "mountain man" in rural New York state into paperback, they should also be able do so for this real adventure story. Obviously,I would love to see it come out in paperback, and be much more widely read! Enjoy!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, August 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Edges of the Earth: A Man, a Woman, a Child in the Alaskan Wilderness (Hardcover)

Through Leo's adventures in the city as well as the bush... He writes about his life like it was the greatest thing sence sliced bread. All who like Alaska should read!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VERY INTERESTING!, November 28, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Edges of the Earth: A Man, a Woman, a Child in the Alaskan Wilderness (Hardcover)

This book was throughly enjoyable from cover to cover. It's about a couple that leave New York and moves to Alaska. They know nothing about survival in the Alaska wilderness but somehow they learn and make a go of it. I'd love to see a follow up book! If you like wilderness adventures, dog sledding, nature, and survival stories...you should enjoy this book!