Stronghold

April 8, 2019
In this captivating narrative, novelist Malarkey (An Obvious Enchantment) explores global salmon conservation through the prism of her enigmatic cousin Guido Rahr. A master fly fisherman, Rahr realized in 1989 the steelhead and salmon he adored were becoming extinct. Transforming from a fishing bum into a Yale-educated environmentalist, he created the Wild Salmon Center nonprofit to preserve “stronghold” rivers unspoiled by human development found in only a few places, most notably Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. Rahr’s passion for the outdoors and dogged pursuit of sponsors puts him in the company of such notables as Harrison Ford and Ted Turner as well as fearsome Russian oligarchs—all of whom are charmed by the fly fisherman’s objective to save fish and wildlife habitat—and allows him to gain entrée to untouched rivers and experience the “sacred moment” of catching an elusive 70-pound taimen. Political corruption and Russian gamesmanship, however, end his organization’s work in the country, but its “conservation wins” include aiding in getting “over 70 percent of Russian salmon fisheries MSC certified” and “the designation of six new national or regional parks in salmon strongholds.” Malarkey effortlessly glides between topics, making for an excellent mix of adventure, geopolitical deal making, and ecological and environmental reporting.

June 1, 2019

In this biography of her cousin Guido Rahr, novelist Malarkey (Resurrection) traces how a boy obsessed with reptiles, fly-fishing, and the wilderness evolved into a defender of salmon habitats, eventually becoming president of the Wild Salmon Center (WSC) in Portland, OR. Rahr believes that the most effective way to safeguard salmon survival is to preserve river systems, and under his direction the WSD has gained protected status for the most robust salmon rivers remaining in the Pacific Northwest and in Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula--a "salmon Eden." To save Kamchatka's magnificent watershed from development, pipelines, and poaching, Rahr explored a number of its uncharted rivers while evading bears, maneuvering massive logjams, and fly-fishing for enormous Siberian taimen. Malarkey highlights Rahr's special talent for getting the right people (i.e., moneyed and/or influential) interested in salmon habitat protection and documents how his aggressive networking skills and out-of-the-box thinking have paid off for salmon. VERDICT This fascinating account of Rahr's crusade to get a multinational salmon conservation effort off the ground will be an enjoyable read for those interested in wilderness conservation and salmon ecology.--Cynthia Lee Knight, Hunterdon Cty. Historical Soc., Flemington, NJ

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2019
Novelist Malarkey (Resurrection, 2006, etc.) turns to nonfiction in this account of a single-minded cousin who's bent on saving salmon and their habitat from humankind. Guido Rahr was always a little odd, writes the author. As a very young child, for instance, "he had an aversion to reading, and to any book that didn't involve pictures of reptiles." He was diagnosed as dyslexic but, after memorizing a vast academic tome on North American reptilia, overcame it--and, though never particularly numerate, he went on to devour whole libraries of science writing while making it clear that he didn't have much use for civilization. Yale wasn't easy, though in an early encounter with the institution, he produced a faunal map that a visiting professor spirited away; other people weren't easy, though he did find a "near perfect alignment" with a kindred spirit; nothing came easily to Rahr except the desire to slip away into the woods and wetlands and commune with nature. It seems almost inevitable, then, that he should have cast his lot with the wild. In this eminently inspirational story, Malarkey chronicles how his battle settled on the anadromous salmon and the places where it was most in danger of disappearing. The contours of this battle shift to the north and west as the story progresses, crossing the Bering Sea to Kamchatka, and encompass unlikely alliances with oligarchs such as the steel magnate Alexander Abramov, who, Malarkey writes, "conveyed the power of an apex predator" while scorning the thought that things like treaties and regulations mean anything to the commercial fisheries that seem bent on reducing the salmon to a memory. Yet Abramov joined in, spending $45 million to remove poachers from a single wild river that now stands at the heart of the work of Rahr's Wild Salmon Center--work, Malarkey writes, that has hinged on "raising the issue of conservation above geopolitics." A vigorously told story of environmental activism that has succeeded despite the odds and an engaging journey into some of the planet's wilder places.

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.