A New York Times Notable Book

"Conjures the Adirondack wilderness as a vast and imposing stage on which a succession of human dramas-from the romantic to the terrifying-come alive."
-John Berendt, #1 New York Times-bestselling author

This book is a romance, a story of first love between Americans and a thing they call "wilderness." For it was in the Adirondacks that masses of non-Native Americans first learned to cherish the wilderness as a place of recreation and solace.

In this lyrical narrative history, Paul Schneider reveals that the affair between Americans and the Adirondacks was by no means one of love at first sight. And even now, Schneider shows that Americans' relationship with the glorious mountains and rivers of the Adirondacks continues to change. As in every good romance, nothing is as simple as it appears.