Breaking Free: The John Huie Story

by Bill Lightle

Breaking The John Huie Story shares the intimate struggles of Huie's childhood that include an alcoholic father he loved and a domineering mother who pushed him toward academic and athletic excellence. Huie came of age in the Deep South in the mid-twentieth century and disdained the region’s racism and religious bigotry. He overcame his chaotic childhood to become a national leader in wilderness education, an advocate for protecting nature, and later a political activist. Through Outward Bound, a wilderness education school, he found his “tribe” and a vehicle to promote the two most important issues of our time – to respect and love one another and to protect the earth that sustains all of us.

“John’s freewheeling spirit belies a genius for inspiring community wherever he goes.”
- Marjorie Buckley, founder North Carolina Outward Bound School

“He had a wisdom about him. He was the conscience of Outward Bound back then. He’d call on our better angels . . . and he was always trying to bring out the best in others without telling them how to do their jobs.”
- Former U.S. Colorado Senator Mark Udall and former director of Colorado Outward Bound School

“John Huie’s work with Outward Bound has been exemplary. His leadership has influenced countless young people and adults towards active and effective citizenship.”
- The late U.S. North Carolina Senator Terry Sanford

300 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 6, 2023

About the author

I was born in Marion, Indiana, in 1957 but moved to Albany, Georgia, in 1966. I've spent most of my life in the Southeast where I wrote for newspapers and taught history and government. I few years ago, I began a thriller series - Maynard & Sinclair - set in Albany. The series is based on my experiences as a newspaper reporter for the Albany Herald in the early 1980s.

The most recent book (2019) in the series is Aucilla Bones.

Today I live and write in Fayetteville, Georgia, just south of Atlanta. My wife Phyllis is a published poet. You can find her work on Amazon as well as mine.

Thank you for considering my work.