Northland

A 4,000-Mile Journey Along America's Forgotten Border

By: Porter Fox

Narrated by: Jonathan Yen

Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

America's northern border is the world's longest international boundary, yet it remains obscure even to Americans. Travel writer Porter Fox spent two years exploring its length by canoe, freighter, and car - and in Northland, he delivers the little-known history of the region and a riveting account of his travels.

Fox follows explorer Samuel de Champlain's adventures; recounts the rise and fall of the iron, wheat, and timber industries; crosses the Great Lakes on a freighter; and tracks America's fur traders through the Boundary Waters.

Northland is full of colorful characters (railroad tycoon James J. Hill, Chief Red Cloud of the Lakota Sioux, Captain Meriwether Lewis) and extraordinary landscapes (Glacier National Park, the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, Montana's Medicine Line country). Throughout, Fox weaves in his encounters with residents, border guards, Indian activists, and militia leaders to give a dynamic portrait of the northland wracked by climate change, water wars, and heightened border security.

©2018 Porter Fox (P)2018 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Travelogue, History, & LOVE of Country

This book has all three. I loved how the history and geography of the Northern Lands of our Country are described together and intertwine to make sense of the expansion of the U.S. coast to coast across the Great Lakes and the 49th parallel . The author clearly loves America and her North country. The description of small towns,reservations, and the massive water borders of the north put me right there with him on his travels.
Highly recommend
Lisa B

Non stop enjoyment

This was so much fun to listen to! I was connected to the story the whole time but also really enjoyed looking at maps and seeing the locations while I followed along. For anyone that enjoys the outdoors and or history it’s a terrific book.

Satisfying and purposeful journey

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Northland. But was quite pleasantly surprised at how well Porter Fox stuck to showing us all our rather mysterious northern border. The section on the fight at Standing Rock is especially informative as well as poignant. This is not s trip I’ll be taking anytime soon but I truly appreciate Fox’s hard work and excellent reporting and writing in saving me some time and money.

Great listen - great narrator

This was a great listen - part travelogue, part history, part opinion but well done and very interesting. If you like geography and US history listen to it. Very happy with the purchase - would read from the same author again!

Quick History

I enjoyed this book it was well organized but really didn't capture my imagination like I had hoped it would.

Disappointed

I'm not sure what I was expecting with this book, but somehow I was thinking it would be a more nuanced ode to the land itself. Far from poetry, this narrative felt like a jumbled mix of history, politics, people, and oh, yeah, a nice sunset once in awhile. Perhaps it was the narrator's lack of feeling for the material that I found wanting. To be sure, parts of the story were interesting, but quickly veered off course. If you are looking for a fascinating nature read that honors the land itself, I do not recommend this title.

Good history bad story

The history lessons that the author shares are very interesting but the story of his travel is pretty bad. The journey consists of a motorized canoe trip, cruise trip, flights and driving on cruise control. All the while the author is kind of condescending to the towns and people .