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Loading... Northland: A 4,000-Mile Journey Along America's Forgotten Border (2018)by Porter Fox
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. As others have said, it's not _REALLY_ bad, but it's not great either. Fox tries to cram too much into too small a space, and never comes close to the teasers on the book jacket. The reader is told that Fox spends 3 years exploring the 4000 mile border. But we're not told that he's there for a week, then gone for awhile, comes back to a different place for another few days, gone for awhile, etc. He's familiar with Maine, so we get lots of details about the history of the border in that area and an ok look at the current conditions, but he gets shallower and shallower the farther west he travels. Even from the beginning, I wasn't sure if I was reading a travelogue, a history, or a commentary on current conditions. And after finishing the book, I have no clue why this border is "obscure." Also: I have lived in Wisconsin nearly my entire life, and have never heard the area near the border referred to as "Northlands." Perhaps you have to be within a mile of it to use that description. ( ) Part travelogue, part history, Northland is a book about the regions around the northern US border - from Maine all the way to Washington state. Porter Fox takes us along on a series of voyages - by canoe, by Great Lakes freighter, and by car across the north of the United States. I enjoyed this book as someone who has called northern Michigan my home for the past seven years. I found Fox's journey by Great Lakes freighter fascinating. But unfortunately, by traveling that way Fox missed the best of the Northland by skipping entirely the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. As a fan of History, the sections on the history of the border were the best part. The travelogue sections were well written but missing some of the personal introspection and transformation that makes the best travel books so enjoyable. Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Continuing with my recent theme of travel books, this is by a travel writer who decided to travel across the northern boundary of the US, from Maine to Washington. Along the way, he tells about his travels--from kayaking in Maine to riding a freight ship across the Great Lakes to passing through Standing Rock in North Dakota--and also surveys the history of colonial settlement and the Native Americans in the northern regions of the US. I actually was surprised by how much this book worked for me. The beginning felt a little disjointed with the switching back-and-forth between Fox's trip and the history of European voyages of exploration, but especially as the book went on it seemed that the two strands wove together better. I also definitely learned a lot about the northlands, but it never felt overwhelming. Northland is the border with Canada and the second longest border in the world. The author travels by car and boat from Maine to Washington. It is a travelogue, but also includes a fair amount of history which is unfortunate because that part is not very good, like filler. The author Porter Fox is from Maine and a competent writer in the NYC scene, in his 30s. It wasn't really an adventure of serendipitous discovery, more like a self-imposed writing assignment with prearranged itineraries and meet-ups, on the journalistic side. It's a decent book to learn more about the border region. The culture of northern Maine has spread westward to the Great Plains. Some of the most remote and wild parts of the US are along the border - because few go there. Borders are contested lands at the edge, travelers quickly pass through ports on the way to somewhere else, the result is a long ribbon of undisturbed areas between ports. I was particularly impressed by the Boundary Waters area in Minnesota. Once Fox gets to the Dakotas and Montanna, the entire states are included as part of the Northlands, which stretches the concept thin and challenges the very idea of a contiguous Northland. no reviews | add a review
"America's northern border is the world's longest international boundary, yet it remains obscure even to Americans. The northern border was America's primary border for centuries--much of the early history of the United States took place there--and to the tens of millions who live and work near the line, the region even has its own name: the northland. Travel writer Porter Fox spent three years exploring 4,000 miles of the border between Maine and Washington, traveling by canoe, freighter, car, and foot. In Northland, he blends a deeply reported and beautifully written story of the region's history with a riveting account of his travels. Setting out from the easternmost point in the mainland United States, Fox follows explorer Samuel de Champlain's adventures across the Northeast; recounts the rise and fall of the timber, iron, and rail industries; crosses the Great Lakes on a freighter; tracks America's fur traders through the Boundary Waters; and traces the forty-ninth parallel from Minnesota to the Pacific Ocean. Fox, who grew up the son of a boat-builder in Maine's northland, packs his narrative with colorful characters (Captain Meriwether Lewis, railroad tycoon James J. Hill, Chief Red Cloud of the Lakota Sioux) and extraordinary landscapes (Glacier National Park, the Northwest Angle, Washington's North Cascades). He weaves in his encounters with residents, border guards, Indian activists, and militia leaders to give a dynamic portrait of the northland today, wracked by climate change, water wars, oil booms, and concerns over border security."--Dust jacket. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)974History and Geography North America Northeastern U.S.LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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