The Final Frontiersman: Heimo Korth and His Family, Alone in Alaska's Arctic Wilderness

The Final Frontiersman is the true account of the wilderness life of Heimo Korth and his family. Heimo grew up in Wisconsin but followed a dream to live in the bush in Alaska. Heimo is a "successful" subsistence trapper and hunter in the ANWR where you can freeze at -55 in the winter and the clouds of mosquitoes torment you in the short summer. The sun disappears for over a month in the winter and there is no night in summer. Heimo and his family spend most of the year in the bush where their nearest neighbor is more than a hundred miles away--human neighbor that is; bears, wolves, wolverines, caribou, and many other kinds of animals abound. Heimo is successful in the sense that he and his family survive, all except one. Theirs is a tough life, and Heimo is a tough but likable character.

I enjoyed reading this book. The author, Heimo's cousin, has a direct, clear writing style and a good sense of pacing. The story reminded me in some ways of The Big House by George Colt: "Here is the story of my (extended) family and all my weird relatives" and like The Big House this book could have used extensive editing. We get too much detail about Heimo and his brood, who in fact are not really all that weird or exceptional after all.

The author presents this work as a meditation on the meaning of wilderness and a vital but disappearing American way of life, but he never manages to infuse these issues of wilderness and the struggle to survive with a sense of metaphysical profundity. Heimo's work and life all come off as somewhat mundane, if exceptionally lonely and uncomfortable; even deprived and brutal (Heimo kills large numbers of furbearing animals for a living). In the end, the author failed to communicate why Heimo would choose such a life, or what about it is attractive. I got the sense that neither the author, nor Heimo's family, nor Heimo himself understand Heimo. He remains a discomforting enigma.

Like The Big House, The Final Frontiersman is most interesting as an exploration of family and what it means to be involved in this most natural and troubling human institution.

There are not very many people I would like to meet, but Heimo and his family are at the top of my list. Fantastic story of some extraordinary folks.

Really painted a good picture of what life was like living in the cold Alaskan wilderness.

It is hard for me to realize that Heimo and his family live even today in the manner in which they live.The hardships they overcome daily as part of their everyday living shows the will that some people have and develop.I recommend this book highly and it has also made me realize that I am not so tough as I thought I was.

This story grips you like an Arctic winter. It is hard to put down as Heimo Korth lives a storybook life subsisting 28 years in back country of Alaska as a trapper and frontiersman. James Campbell takes you through Heimo and his family's incredible story. If you have any sense of life outdoors or appreciation for living off the land, this award winning book is for you.

Heimo and his family did it their way and Campbell's book celebrates their courage, difficulties and successes.