North Country: A Personal Journey

Howard Frank Mosher embarked on a journey following America's northern border from coast to coast in search of the country's last unspoiled frontiers. What he discovered was a vast and sparsely settled territory largely ignored by the rest of the United States and Canada; a harsh and beautiful region populated by some of the continent's most independent men and women. Mosher brings the remote North Country vividly to life, and reflects on the powerful characters he has encountered in his own life and how this land has shaped his life and his books.

To celebrate turning 50, Howard Frank Mosher took a trip through the North Country, the long northern border betwixt Canada and the United States. Old Elisha in Lubec, Maine, says "Us are the stubbornest people on the face of the earth, which we've had to be to survive at all." Journeying west through Michigan's Upper Peninsula, along the Manitoba and Saskatchewan borders and Montana's Breaks to Washington's Cascades, Mosher visited the self-sufficient bush pilots, game wardens, miners, and obstinate farmers who live off the harshly beautiful land. Mosher appreciates the rugged country, but he revels in the people.