Red Summer: The Danger, Madness, and Exaltation of Salmon Fishing in a Remote Alaskan Village (Hardcover)

by Bill Carter (Author)
Key Phrases: king salmon, poon tang, white cane, Bristol Bay, Club Ohio, Dave Hart (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Red Summer is a wonderful book about a rare subject, the mysterious pleasure of brutally hard work. Bill Carter proves again that he is a first-rate writer in the fascinating tradition of Junger and Krakauer."-- Jim Harrison

"Go fall off the edge of the earth and you just might get to a place where life still throbs. Bill Carter fell and felt the blasts of the Bering Sea blow away our pious lies about ourselves and the thing we call nature. This vivid and engaging book sketches the way to get home before we kill all hope of home. And the fishing ain't bad either."-- Charles Bowden author of Down by the River: Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family

"A simple but satisfying blend of memoir, cultural anthropology and environmental analysis"-- Kirkus

"...A vivid chronicle of life in Egekik, an isolated village in the Aleutian chain and an outset of struggling families who depend on nature's cycle to survive.-- National Geographic Adventure

"...An honest, refreshingly understated look at a profession that's known for, well, exaggeration>"-- Outside Magazine

"...A resonant memoir..."-- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Red Summer is about life at the extreme edge of the food chain, and nowhere is the food chain more violent, more awesome or more intense than in Egekik."-- New York Times Book Review

Product Description
A vivid, unforgettable account of the danger, pain, and joy of working on a salmon fishing boat and living in a small village on the farthest edge of Alaska

Set in the tiny Native village of Egegik on the shores of Alaska's Bristol Bay, Bill Carter's Red Summer is the thrilling story of one man's journey from novice to seasoned fisherman over the course of four beautiful, brutal summers in one of the earth's few remaining wild places. As millions of salmon race toward their annual spawning grounds, Carter learns the ancient, backbreaking trade of the set net fisherman, one of the most exhilarating and dangerous jobs in the world.

Housed in a dilapidated shack with no hot water and boarded-up windows that keep the bears at bay, Carter spends his days battling the elements on the river and his nights drinking whiskey with a memorable group of hardworking, hard-living characters. There's Sharon, the tough, charismatic woman who runs Carter's fishing crew; Carl, her stoic but warmhearted colleague; and a half-dozen local fishermen, many born and raised in this unforgiving place. Their stories -- harrowing, touching, full of humor -- all underscore the credo of the village's fishermen: Do the work or leave.

Carter's crew is imperiled a number of times as tides rise, nets are snagged, and the weight of too many fish threatens to sink their boat. Written with gusto and honesty, Red Summer brims with astonishing human experience and joins the grand tradition of books written by great American outdoorsmen-writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Edward Abbey, Peter Matthiessen, and Sebastian Junger. Red Summer will appeal not only to fishermen, naturalists, adventurers, and armchair anthropologists alike but also to anyone who has ever yearned, however privately, to escape the bonds of modern civilization.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (May 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743297067
• ISBN-13: 978-0743297066
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,898 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #3 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Outdoor Recreation > Polar Regions
  #6 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Natural Resources > Fisheries & Aquaculture
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Read As To The Action, the Rest is A Matter of Personal Taste, June 30, 2008

By	Niccolo N. Donzella (Ellicott City, Maryland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book divides itself between the commercial salmon fishing trade, on the one hand, and environmental politics/philosophy/policy on the other. When addressing the former, the writing is crisp and clear. There is lots of action, fascinating characters, and plenty to hold your attention -- just a good, solid read. He really puts you into the place, the action, and the people. When it shifts to environmental politics, philosophy, and policy, it helps a great deal if you share the author's point of view. A journalist by trade, he has strong opinions. If you don't agree, you can skip those parts and get back to the action, which is well worth the time.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Egegik, AK - The Real Thing, June 15, 2008

By	Christopher J. Hagen (Stillwater, MN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'd like to witness to the accuracy of Carter's portrayal of Egegik summers and the fishing men (and some hardy women) do there.

I worked eight summers in Egegik (1994-2001), starting in the cannery, set-netting for two summers and drift fishing for four. I lived and worked with two long time Egegik families (one not so much a family, but a clan). Carter has squarely captured the joy, exhaustion, laughter, anger, dissipation, recklessness, heroism, bawdiness, and adventure of Egegik summers. Everything he writes in his book is true and he does not exagerate (hard as that may seem!). The people he writes about (many I also knew) are just as lost, wild, mean, strong, and gripping as he portrays them.

Carter's book isn't the last word about Egegik summers (there are many many books that could be written about the drift fishing, the cannery workers, the fish and game officers, and more), but it'd dead on accurate for the territory it covers. His book shows why so many of us went back summer after summer and still dream of doing so now that we've moved on to the rest of our lives.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crazy and Exciting, Just Like His First Book, June 10, 2008

By	U2 Tassoula (USA) - See all my reviews

A man who is drawn to adventures as easily as many of us are drawn to our remote controls, Bill Carter offers us the gift of roaming vicariously into his world as he sets sail for another wild journey in Red Summer.

This second memoir from the author of the sentimental and heartbreaking Fools Rush In, takes us to the waters of Alaska for the core fishing season where he toiled on a boat for four years doing harder work than most of us will ever encounter.

The landscape is depressing, the townspeople are harsh and the money isn't nearly as good as you'd think it would be for life-threatening labor, yet Bill keeps going back for more.

When you're not marveling at his physical and emotional stamina, you're wondering why the heck he hasn't packed up camp and returned to the sunny desert of Arizona that he calls home.

By the end of the story, after you've met the "characters" who are now like family to him, and you appreciate the greater good of what fishing in that part of the world can provide, you'll understand.

And you'll search your mind wondering where Bill's life will take him next...and hope he invites you along.