Book Preview: Border Country.

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Our Literary Outdoors

Literature of the Sportsman’s Guide Lifestyle

 

This past year, The University of Minnesota Press released Border Country: The Northwoods Canoe Journals of Howard Greene, 1906–1916. Below is their release on the book:

Border Country is a collection of the remarkable, handmade journals from businessman Howard Greene’s early 1900s canoe trips to the north woods of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Canada. Reproduced with numerous photographs and maps, these journals are a window into a world at once familiar and strange, the wilderness caught on the verge of becoming the North Woods we know today.

Beautiful jacketed cloth presentation

A distinction with this collection of journals is that it is introduced and annotated by Howard Greene’s daughter, Martha Greene Phillips. Therefore, Border Country has a personal, familial tone towards the contents. Howard Greene is referred to as “dad” and Martha Greene’s background knowledge of her father’s experiences (as well as “The Gang”) gives keen insight and understanding to his life and work.

Border Country is loaded with photographs from Howard Greene’s Graflex camera, including pictures of the actual journals. The journal excerpts are at times presented as written…in lists or with frequent indentation. Recipes, packing lists, and even logs of daily meals are included. It is truly a thorough and thoughtful compilation capturing the spirit of the North Woods as he witnesses logging, mining, and trading endeavors as well as encounters with Native Americans.

Look for a more detailed review of the book in January.

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2 Responses to “Book Preview: Border Country.”

  1. martha greene phillips

    I loved your preview of “Border Country; the Northwoods Canoe Journals of Howard Greene, 1906-1916.” It may be the best summary of my book about my Dad’s journals yet – and that includes, at this point, a fair amount of regional newspaper and broadcast coverage.

    I hope you will find time to add the promised more detailed review sometime soon.Thank you for reading my book and sharing it on sportsmanguide..
    ,

    Reply

    • James

      Martha, I truly appreciate your kind words. They’re coming, and I appreciate you checking out Guide Outdoors.

      Reply