Red Summer: The Danger, Madness, and Exaltation of Salmon Fishing in a Remote Alaskan Village

Additional Red Summer: The Danger, Madness, and Exaltation of Salmon Fishing in a Remote Alaskan Village Information

Set in the tiny Native village of Egegik on the shores of Alaska's Bristol Bay, Bill Carter's Red Summer is the thrilling story of one man's journey from novice to seasoned fisherman over the course of four beautiful, brutal summers in one of the earth's few remaining wild places. As millions of salmon race toward their annual spawning grounds, Carter learns the ancient, backbreaking trade of the set net fisherman, one of the most exhilarating and dangerous jobs in the world.

Housed in a dilapidated shack with no hot water and boarded-up windows that keep the bears at bay, Carter spends his days battling the elements on the river and his nights drinking whiskey with a memorable group of hardworking, hard-living characters. There's Sharon, the tough, charismatic woman who runs Carter's fishing crew; Carl, her stoic but warmhearted colleague; and a half-dozen local fishermen, many born and raised in this unforgiving place. Their stories -- harrowing, touching, full of humor -- all underscore the credo of the village's fishermen: Do the work or leave.

Carter's crew is imperiled a number of times as tides rise, nets are snagged, and the weight of too many fish threatens to sink their boat. Written with gusto and honesty, Red Summer brims with astonishing human experience and joins the grand tradition of books written by great American outdoorsmen-writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Edward Abbey, Peter Matthiessen, and Sebastian Junger. Red Summer will appeal not only to fishermen, naturalists, adventurers, and armchair anthropologists alike but also to anyone who has ever yearned, however privately, to escape the bonds of modern civilization.

What Customers Say About Red Summer: The Danger, Madness, and Exaltation of Salmon Fishing in a Remote Alaskan Village:

It tells the story of life and reality in a small fishing village in Alaska. Bill Carter is an excellent writer.Red Summer, brings the reader along for the adventure of Salmon Fishing commercially. This book talks about so much more than Salmon. The poverty, and survival of those who can and those who can not leave. I didn't want to put it down.

It's one of those places that you can't wait to leave but you miss it when your gone. I spent three summers (97, 98, 99) out on the flats (ISA) and at Coffee Point as a fish buyer. I'll never forget my time in the Egegik fishing district. Great people, great families, lots of characters, and an experience of a lifetime. Bill Carter did a nice job of bringing me back to that place, and many of his experiences and thoughts paralleled my own and those I was with.

Buy this book immediately for your father. If you are a fan of the "Deadliest Catch" you will love this book. Add to this diary of back breaking fishing extremely insightful passages on the working man's view of the Green movement and global warming and you have a winner. These are the backbone of America that split their own firewood to heat their home. Every book that I buy is passed on to others at some point.this book will be handed down to my daughters to be handed down to their daughters. Yes.the people that rototill, fertilize, and plant their own gardens for food. Much of America is based not in cities but in small rural communities where a man or woman's value is not measured in dollars and cents but in how hard that individual works. However unlike the "Deadliest Catch" this book is written by the individual that actually does the hard work.While this mind numbing labor takes place in just a few months it feeds families for an entire year.

Young and old the people that conduct hard, brutal, day in day out physical labor. This book is the bible of those of us who work that hard. When I purchased this book it was a classic case of don't judge a book by it's cover.This book is a keeper. It is that good.

I drifted for a number of years and it provided me an insight into their side of the fishery and brought back a lot of good (and bad) memories. For the beginning Bristol Bay net fisherman, this is a good book and it doesn't matter if you are going to be a boat based (drifter) or shore based (set netter). It gives a good flavor of the commitment, friendships and hardships faced by the set netters and adds a lot of personal characters traits to the plot. A good don't want to set it down kind of read that made it through our whole family. (Dave Neault)

He captured my cousins' (David and Ron as well) personalities and lives just as I have known them to be. I read Bill's book, "Red Summer" and did not put it down until I finished it. I have first-hand knowledge as to how I know Bill brought the characters and way of living to life; not because I was there but because Sharon, the main "character" is my cousin. I knew my cousin Sharon chose a hard life after she and I graduated from high school (I went to college and she went fishing; this was 1979 and she has done so to this day) but I never knew just how hard that life was for her, and I never, ever heard a complaint about it.Bill wrote of his life with Sharon as his captain, and with the folks of Egegik, in such a way that you feel as though you are right there with them all. He brings you in from the first page and you feel saddened at the end because you want to read more.Thanks Bill for writing of your experiences so descriptively that I felt I had spent wonderful, miserable, exciting, tiring, and rewarding summers with my cousin.- Barb