Two in the Far North, Revised Edition: A Conservation Champion's Story of Life, Love, and Adventure in the Wilderness

By Margaret E. Murie and Margaret E Murie

Book Overview

Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award

A Northern classic and beloved favorite, Two in the Far North chronicles the incredible story of Margaret "Mardy" Murie, called the Grandmother of the Conservation Movement, and how she became one of the first women to embrace and champion wilderness conservation in America.

At the age of nine, Margaret Murie moved from Seattle to Fairbanks, not realizing the trajectory life would take her from there. This moving testimonial to the preservation of the Arctic wilderness comes straight from her heart as she writes about growing up in Fairbanks, becoming the first woman graduate of the University of Alaska, and meeting-and then marrying-noted biologist Olaus J. Murie. So begins her lifelong journey in Alaska and on to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where along with her husband and others they founded The Wilderness Society to protect nature and wildlife and speak out for ecological consciousness. From adventures of traversing over thin ice with dog sleds, camping in woods surrounded by bears, caribou, and other wildlife, to canoeing in streams with geese nearby, and more, Murie embraced nature as a close neighbor and dedicated her life to advocating for wilderness protection and conservation.

First published in 1962, this edition features a new foreword by Frances Beinecke and an afterword from Donald Murie. Margaret Murie inspires readers to join her in finding life, love, and adventure in the beautiful remote Alaskan wilderness and the natural world beyond.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1513262750
• ISBN13: 9781513262758
• Release Date: March 2020
• Publisher: West Margin Press
• Length: 366 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.4" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

fantastic story of frontier adventure

I'd heard Margaret (Mardy) Murie's name in the same news and conversational circles as I'd hear names like John Muir, Barry Lopez, John McPhee - all among my favorite writers, scientists and naturalists - so when this book appeared in my stack of Christmas gifts this year I was really excited. Over the last several months I've picked up several books set in the northernmost corners of the world, some of them truly incredible stories of frontier exploration, survival and human endurance - and Murie's book did not disappoint. In Two in the Far North, Murie spends the first few chapters recounting her childhood in then-brand new Fairbanks, growing up in a modest cabin during winters that dipped, and often stayed, well into the -40s and -50s, and witnessing the growth of a burgeoning frontier town. Later, after graduating from the University of Alaska (she was the first woman ever to do so), she married Olaus Murie - a scientist studying the migration patterns of Caribou in remote northern Alaska. Together they set off for the Brooks Range to explore wildlife in areas like Bettles and Wiseman and the Old Crow River valley. Murie is considered by many to be the grandmother of the conservation movement, and much of the passion she had for this territory that later translated into her advocacy for wilderness protection were born in the stories of this book.

Alaska by an Alaskan

Many of the best-known books about Alaska, its people and wilderness, have been written from an outsider's perspective (John McPhee, for example, or Joe McGinniss), with an outsider's sense of detachment and strangeness, as though what they were commenting on were just slightly odd on some level.Margaret Murie (known as "Mardy"), gives as Alaska from a true insider's perspective, as one who grew up with it, knows it in her bones, and loves it the way we love our closest family. Born in 1902, Mardy moved to Fairbanks at age 9, where kids went to school in -50F temperatures and where the only way in or out of Alaska in winter was on the back of a mail sled propelled by sled dogs. One of the first grads of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, she married the naturalist Olaus Murie and honeymooned in the Arctic. Over the years, fearless Mardy even took her infant children on expeditions into the wild. The book is an indivisible combination of autobiography and nature writing. Murie has a remarkable eye; her descriptive powers rival McPhee's but her tone is more one of powerful affection rather than awe. My favorite story was of a young teenage Mardy, on her way to the Lower 48 to go to high school, catching the last mail sled out of town in the spring of 1918. This spring trip took many days; at each river crossing there was a possibility of not making it over the thinning ice. What an adventure! Combined with that adventure is a powerful romance, the lifelong relationship between Olaus, a professional naturalist; Mardy, the fearless and intrepid companion; and Alaska herself.Mardy Murie died only last year, at age 101. If you read this book, you will regret having just missed her; she deserves to be missed.

"And I see them dancing....."

I, first, heard of Mardy Murie and her husband, Olaus, while watching John Denver's The Wildlife Concert. He wrote A Song For All Lovers for their deep and abiding love for each other and for the state of Alaska. The song's beauty gave rise to my curiousity. And, recently, while watching a documentary of Mardy's life, I became determined to read this book about her life.This book is a must have. Mrs. Murie paints with words, a picture so vivid of Alaska's tundras and plains, that I felt as if I were part of it. The lifestyle was hard, but satisfying, and this woman's life was nothing short of fascinating. Mardy Murie is a living testament to the strength and beauty of women, and she leaves a shining example of what a woman can do. In her assistance in Olaus' work for the ANWR and other Alaskan Land Conservancies, to her carrying on of that work, she is a beacon to us all of what we can do.Buy it...read it. You will fall in love with Alaska and with Mardy.