Yearning Wild Exploring the Last Frontier and the Landscape of the Heart

by Brunk, R. Glendon

• ISBN13: 9781931229128
• ISBN10: 1931229120
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: Invisible Cities Press Llc

Summary

In 1968, Glendon Brunk moved to Alaska to pursue his childhood dream of living in the wilds of the last American frontier. He built his own log cabin, hunted and fished, worked with the native Inuit, and became one of the world's top sled-dog racers. But he also watched the land he loved being destroyed by the tools of the very society he represented. Disgusted and distraught, Brunk left Alaska and hitchhiked across Africa, Asia, and North America, where he witnessed continuing destruction from the hands of humans. He returned to Alaska, committed to fight to save what is left of the wilderness. This personal story explores the deeply American contradictions that make up modern Alaska and questions our cultural inability to both love and protect the land.

Author Biography

R. Glendon Brunk spent 30 years living and working in Alaska and is dedicated to protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He teaches at Prescott College. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Prologue	xi
departure
The Highway Home	3	(8)
Growing Up Mennonite	11	(9)
A War Story	20	(19)
The Fires of Youth	39	(18)
Infatuation	57	(13)
The Lure of Antlers	70	(19)
Dogs	89	(20)
The Undoing of Place	109	(15)
Thirty Mile	124	(15)
Dog Man	139	(13)
A Pipeline to Build	152	(10)
A River's Force	162	(11)
Jenny	173	(16)
The Racing Game	189	(15)
Trophies	204	(17)
initiation
Simple Things	221	(13)
The Seduction of Movement	234	(14)
Meeting Midlife on the Serengeti	248	(10)
Turning	258	(12)
Facing East	270	(17)
return
The Fear of Nature, the Nature of Fear	287	(13)
The Rage of Men	300	(9)
The Stories We Live By	309