Porter Fox

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.… (mer)

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 ⭐⭐⭐⭐… (mer)

I had wanted to read his book [book:Northland: A 4,000-Mile Journey Along America's Forgotten Border|41817501], but never managed to get to it, so when I saw this I grabbed it. Phenomenal book, a little memoir, adventure, and climatology. Unfortunately those who don't believe in climate change, those who need to read this the most, won't and if they did they wouldn't believe what they read. Climate change has been politicized just like Covid, vaccines and voting. I don't see how anyone could read this and not feel a sense of urgency. Fox talks to geologists, climatologists, even the I hits who have seen first hand the melting ice, glaciers. He talked to other experts and specialists running various experiments to see just how fast things are occuring. From fires to glacier ice, to Winters becoming shorter and shorter, storms coming Ng stronger and more often, we are at the tipping point. The next crisis of refugees may be those escaping places that will no longer be livable.… (mer)