Kings of the Yukon

By: Adam Weymouth

Narrated by: Charlie Anson

Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Short-listed, Edward Stanford Travel Writing award, 2019

The Young Writer of the Year, PFD/Sunday Times, 2018

Richard Jefferies Society & White Horse Bookshop Literary Prize, 2019

"Stirring and heartbreaking." (David Owen, author of Where the Water Goes)

One man's thrilling and transporting journey by canoe across Alaska in search of the king salmon

The Yukon river is 2,000 miles long, the longest stretch of free-flowing river in the United States. In this riveting examination of one of the last wild places on earth, Adam Weymouth canoes along the river's length, from Canada's Yukon Territory, through Alaska, to the Bering Sea. The result is a book that shows how even the most remote wilderness is affected by the same forces reshaping the rest of the planet.

Every summer, hundreds of thousands of king salmon migrate the distance of the Yukon to their spawning grounds, where they breed and die, in what is the longest salmon run in the world. For the communities that live along the river, salmon was once the lifeblood of the economy and local culture. But climate change and a globalized economy have fundamentally altered the balance between man and nature; the health and numbers of king salmon are in question, as is the fate of the communities that depend on them.

Traveling along the Yukon as the salmon migrate, a four-month journey through untrammeled landscape, Adam Weymouth traces the fundamental interconnectedness of people and fish through searing and unforgettable portraits of the individuals he encounters. He offers a powerful, nuanced glimpse into indigenous cultures and into our ever-complicated relationship with the natural world. Weaving in the rich history of salmon across time as well as the science behind their mysterious life cycle, Kings of the Yukon is extraordinary adventure and nature writing at its most urgent and poetic.

©2018 Adam Weymouth (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

• Winner of The Sunday Times/ Peters Fraser+ Dunlop 2018 Young Writer of the Year Award
• Shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) Ondaatje Prize
• Named the Lonely Planet Adventure Travel Book of the Year
• Named a notable book for the 2018 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award

"[A] brilliant account of a summer spent paddling the 2,000-mile length of the Yukon River...Kings of the Yukon succeeds as an adventure tale, a natural history and a work of art. Its various threads of context and back story are woven seamlessly into the daily panorama of the river journey."—Richard Adams Carey, Wall Street Journal

"Weymouth paddled the length of the Yukon River to learn about king salmon. In his eloquent account of his experiences, he sheds light on the life cycle of these magnificent creatures, the complexities of the landscape, and the humans and other animals inhabiting it."—San Francisco Chronicle

"Timely...Weymouth's prose is often beautiful, bringing to life the river and its inhabitants."—Anchorage Daily News

King Salmon, it’s life and death on the Yukon Rive

Great listen…(heard it on audible) an incredibly detailed description of the ecosystem that cradles this great river as the author details the life and death struggle of this great fish.

An epic masterpiece

The most amazing account of traveling the length of the Yukon River. That in and of itself is an accomplishment of epic proportion‘s. But the book is much more than that. It is a fascinating story of adventure, science, and anthropology written and narrated in the most exquisite way. He uniquely captures the character of the river, the people that live on it and the fish that they depend on for their way of life. Of the many many books that I have listened to on audible this is perhaps one of the best. Absolutely unique and fascinating.

critique I

The book is about fish, the river and the people along it. sometimes the facts are exaggerated to make your point. you travel with a with a partner that you sell them. call by name