Untamed: The Wildest Woman in America and the Fight for Cumberland Island

by Will Harlan

Carol Ruckdeschel is the wildest woman in America. She wrestles alligators, eats roadkill, rides horses bareback, and lives in a ramshackle cabin that she built by hand in an island wilderness. A combination of Henry David Thoreau and Jane Goodall, Carol is a self-taught scientist who has become a tireless defender of sea turtles on Cumberland Island, a national park off the coast of Georgia.

Cumberland, the country’s largest and most biologically diverse barrier island, is celebrated for its windswept dunes and feral horses. Steel magnate Thomas Carnegie once owned much of the island, and in recent years, Carnegie heirs and the National Park Service have clashed with Carol over the island’s future. What happens when a dirt-poor naturalist with only a high school diploma becomes an outspoken advocate on a celebrated but divisive island? Untamed is the story of an American original standing her ground and fighting for what she believes in, no matter the cost.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Nature, Book Club, History, Science, Biography Memoir

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 2014

About the author

Will Harlan is the longtime editor in chief of the Asheville, North Carolina-based Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine.
Harlan is famous in Western North Carolina as the man who races ultra-marathons with barefoot Tarahumara Indians in Mexico. He has run naked through the woods. He is the five-time champion of the epic 40-mile Mount Mitchell Challenge. And he once appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” where he was heckled by Jerry Seinfeld because of his preference for sleeping outdoors year-round and peeing in a bucket, rather than being in bed with his wife.

Reviews

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Jane Goodall and Diane Fossey inspire you, so will Carol Ruckdeschel, who is my new saint of the wilderness. Author Will Harlan paints such a compelling and intimate portrait that his request, at the end of the book, for readers to honor Ruckdeschel's privacy and not descend upon her like hungry pilgrims to Buddha, is absolutely necessary.
I was ready to book tickets.
Ruckdeschel's passions are wilderness, Cumberland Island, and sea turtles -- although she has a friendly acquaintance with critters as varied as alligators to otters.
For much of her life men fell in love with her spunk and looks; only one of those guys seemed to actually cherish who she was, not a blonde trophy but a wilderness warrior as fierce and committed as Geronimo. Her dogged self-confidence also reminded me of the great Kenyan aviator, Beryl Markham.
I realize I'm gushing, and so will try to tone it down.
Harlan, who writes for Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine, began his acquaintance with Ruckdeschel more than a couple decades ago, and has checked in regularly with her ever since, obviously paying close attention and taking good notes.
He ends up telling her story with such detail and understanding that you would think he was related - except few of us, even those of us who are writers, could tell our own parents' stories a tenth as well.
The book begins with Ruckdeschel on the Cumberland beach. She's just shot and killed a feral hog (they devour the endangered turtle nests), had a nice pork roast over her campfire, and then tagged a mama turtle. After the turtle is back in the ocean, Ruckdeschel "pressed herself against the turtle's shell as they went underwater together.
"She and the turtle skimmed the ocean floor. It was quiet, the water was inky, and Carol's lungs burned, but she held on and went deeper still. Down here, she felt raw and real. She tightened her grip on the turtle's shell and held on as long as she could.
"Ahead, the ocean floor dropped off sharply. The turtle plunged into the abyss, and Carol finally let go. She clawed frantically toward the moonlit surface and finally popped out into the night air, gasping and wheezing. She floated on her back, chest heaving, the summer stars whirling overhead.
"'Hooo-weee!' she howled. She drifted naked in the wild ocean, tossed by the tides, her oxygen starved lungs still on fire.
'"Then she noticed a different burning - gory gashed along her legs that had ripped open when she slid off the turtle's barnacled back. A cloud of bloody water engulfed her bare body. She could not see the shore."
The book just gets better after that.
Harlan takes us through her childhood and lovers as she finds her calling - protecting Cumberland and its turtles.
This book should be a movie, to inspire all those folks who won't read even a fast-paced book like this one, with pages that fly by too fast.
Recommended!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is wonderful biography of Carol Ruckdeschel. She is an inspiring, outspoken, unapologetic, fighter for nature in general and turtles in particular. It was amazing to me all the things she accomplished basically by herself. She took on politicians, rich people, shrimp trawlers among others to protect the wildlife of Cumberland Island. Along the way she also had to do some personal battles with the men in her life. I would now really like to visit this National Park it looks beautiful.

[Gail Strickland · Rating 4 out of 5]

How perfect. After reading about Carol Ruckdeschel's struggle not only to save the loggerhead and other turtles from the Carnegie family, politicians, shrimp fishermen among others in addition to Cumberland Island, one of Georgia's barrier islands one of my cats "gifted" me with a half eaten bullfrog, laid lovingly on the welcome mat at my front door. I now know how Ruckdeschel must have felt seeing dead turtles on the beaches of the island.

Despite fighting for nature and wilderness for over forty years, only the northern part of the island has been designated a wilderness area and it is a continuing struggle to maintain even that. Every year or so, there is an effort to commercialize the rest of not only Cumberland but the other barrier islands lining Georgia's coast, helped along by politicians financed by off islanders. We have enough Hilton Heads now...let's not fool with the rest of nature.

There is no way I can do justice to Carol's struggle but after reading this, if you're not persuaded to get involved in conservation efforts, I'd be surprised.

[Tiffany Kopcak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to force myself to put this book down, otherwise I would have spent an entire day reading it. It was gripping both in the compelling character of Carol, but also in the inclusion of relevant and interesting facts about all manner of people and factors that have affected the history of this crucial island.

Will Harlan's writing is superb. He presents Carol warmly, showing the thought process and passion of a truly remarkable woman while also nodding to criticism from her neighbors.

Like any good journalist, Harlan meticulously researched for this book, spending over a decade conducting informal and formal interviews, and getting to know the wide range of personalities devoted to Cumberland Island. From Jimmy Carter to the founder of Coca-Cola, and John F. Kennedy, Jr to the Black Seminoles, Harlan includes relevant details that paint a picture beyond the island of American History. All of which is wrapped around the inclusion of poignant, precise, and relevant facts.

Beyond the facts, Harlan's own love affair with the natural world comes across in the precise and poetic descriptions of the island and the connections he draws in conveying the driving force behind Carol's single-minded determination. He clearly states the struggle faced by the American people and government in balancing the needs of today with saving for the future.

I am now on the hunt for anything and everything written by Harlan.
And desperate to visit Cumberland Island, with the least possible impact to the natural world, of course.

[Katie Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the life of Carol Ruckdeschel, a relentlessly passionate advocate for wilderness preservation, who certainly hasn't led a boring life. It also covers the history of wilderness preservation generally and the history of Cumberland Island specifically. The book is Ruckdeschel's story, so the views of the island's residents (basically, the Carnegies) who advocate for the prioritization of historic building preservation over wilderness preservation is not very well represented. Who needs them though, when you have someone like Carol Ruckdeschel to write about?

[Linda Belote · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one mighty fine inspirational book about what one person/scientist/ethologist can accomplish if the fire and passion are strong enough. Here is a testimonial to a woman who did it and how it was done, in spite of many obstacles. Raises legitimate questions about environmental causes and the future of the planet.

[Yasmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time has shown that Carol was right, we as human beings are too cheap and nasty to help Mother Earth. Will Harlan is wrong in thinking that the earth can repair itself should we die out first. Already too much damage has been done and with over 7 billion people crammed into this one planet I don't see the likelihood of people mysteriously dying out in the next 100 or more years. There are far too many babies being born for that. Yes a great many of these babies die before they are 5 years old, however, every time a young woman in North America or Europe says she wants kids because it is the "natural order" of life then the population grows. That is she wants and will give birth not that she will adopt and ease the burdens of the world or the sorrows of an orphaned child. In the discussions between Carol and Bob humans are all of those things mentioned, but predominantly, and as Carol found herself, profits rule. Profits makes mounds of money and money talks big in governments, in corporations, in day to day living. Money greases wheels, makes things move faster than they would normally. Money becomes bribes and money corrupts, governments rise and fall with money. Money buys power which means more money and more power. Money says "We must protect our interests." Money says "We need to safe guard our resources and goods and services." Money says "We can afford to go to war somewhere else, but we can't afford to feed our poor and house our elderly and disabled." Money says "We need to protect our freedoms from evildoers wanting to destroy us because they don't have our freedoms. In the mean time let's rape the shit out of our natural resources because Nature doesn't pay jack shit and it's full of creeping, biting things that are out to get humans." So what do I think? Carol Turtleback is one courageous woman. One of a very few that cares about Nature and not money and profits. A person who doesn't want to put people first, a person who says "Yes we need nature in order to live." Sure cattle gives us burgers, chicken mcnuggets, pig gives us bacon and sheep lamb chops. Maybe one day in the future greenhouses get grow a bit of grass in between the slurry of mashed up dead animals that is fed to livestock. If it was up to the GMO creators they would find a way for flowers to pollinate themselves rather than relying on the remains of sick and dying bees and butterflies to do it for us. However, there is one thing greenhouses and GMO creators can't manage and that is rain. Without water those crops and animals can't live. No matter how drought resistant crops can be made no water means no growth. But as long as there is water in remaining lakes, rivers and oceans (there is a way of taking salt out of water) are these big corporations worried about water running out? No. Profits make the world turn in business and with business leading just about every other aspect of life people govern themselves accordingly. Politicians get kick backs, populations put up with it and the world suffers as a consequence. No one wants to think the world is not infinite. No one can understand that things won't last forever. Big businesses don't. When one resource is done there is always another to exploit somewhere else, no matter how far away it may be. Money needs to keep coming in to keep pampering the very few that hold all the strings. But the saddest thing is that there are more people wanting to emulate this lifestyle. So many would like to tramp all over wilderness areas, eating fast food, having night clubs and animals have to get out of the way or be behind large panes of glass to be gawked at and photographed to be plastered all over social media. Other than that who cares? It's all creepy, stingy and bity and gross looking because it's untamed. Cumberland got a measure of protection but there was always some people that wanted more. They wanted to own it, pieces of it. Whether it was a hideous old family with too much money and no brains that built monuments on the land or government, whomever, wants to throw money around in order to get more money. Nature suffers as a result. Nature that holds and stores humans food, creates it, gives us materials to make shelters, makes the necessary chemicals and minerals to run our cars, planes and trains, gives us so much and gets so little return. What we can't explain away easily with logic and facts is to be treated hostility. Death and the workings of Nature can't be explained easily and there is no profit involved. No one gets rich understanding Nature, no profits and there is nothing beneficial for anyone in Death. But since life is full of uncertainties those that can will live like it is the end and so will act incredibly selfishly to enjoy themselves regardless of anything else. What is to be done? What will save the turtles? What will keep Cumberland Island wild? When we, as humans, realise we are meant to be wild. We are meant to die in order to live, we are no different from the turtles or the creeping, stingy, bity things that look "really gross". When we realise we are wild then we will see Nature around is wild and meant to be wild, we are meant to be wild and untamed. It fits the Cree saying "When the last tree is cut down, the last fish is eaten and the last stream is poisoned, we will realise we cannot eat money."

[Susan Oleksiw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books about nature and living in the natural world tend to get warm and fuzzy and focus on the beauty of the landscape, pleasant sightings of deer and eagles, the beauty of the seasons, etc. There's nothing warm and fuzzy in this book, though there is much to be drawn to, admire, and appreciate. There's also a tremendous amount of conflict, in both natural and civilized worlds.

Carol Ruckdeschel may be the last of her kind, a woman who found a corner of the world where she could live in nature, find purpose there, and make a contribution to the world. The challenges she faced were not the dangers of the natural world so much as those of the so-called civilized world, where love of money and power outweigh all else. Carol found that world on Cumberland Island, the largest barrier island in the East, just off the coast of Georgia. This book is as much a biography of that spot as it is of Carol's life.

Carol came to the island as a very young woman after a stint living in a cave and a failed marriage. She had already defined her life by a love of animals and a penchant for eating road-kill. On the island she could live in the wilderness at minimal cost, and focus on her life's purpose.

Carol became a world-recognized authority on turtles, performed thousands of necropsies, collected numerous relics of island life, and challenged the National Park Service officers to live up to their mission. Her contributions to science and environmentalism are generally acknowledged by scientists to have been significant despite her lack of a college education, but they have often been overshadowed by her conflicts with the other residents of the island, descendants of the Carnegie family and others who feel entitled to the island and their way of life there over the decades. In essence, the poor scientist against the rich snobs.

The pendulum swung back and forth over almost fifty years, with neither side giving an inch, and both sides calling on friends and allies on the mainland to advance their goals, some more reputable than others. If any of this island remains intact for the wild life and wilderness found there it is because of Carol's unflagging efforts and in spite of the descendants of the rich families that summered there.

This is a riveting, fascinating, and thoroughly researched story about the life of one woman dedicated to the natural world, and what one person can achieve. The book is replete with her tales of facing down a gator, befriending vultures, assisting turtles in birthing, observing a mourning ritual in the animal world, and numerous other incidents she would consider part of her daily life and others would consider life-altering.

The author, Will Harlan, shadowed Carol for almost twenty years. In the end he links her to other women who have achieved monumental success in defending the natural world against rapacious civilization and the selfish and manipulative people who prefer development or special treatment. Jane Goodall is the first and most obvious woman in this area of science, but Harlan lists several others for readers who want to learn more about this way of life--Birute Galdikas, Eugenie Clark, and several more.

I know of no other book that will take the reader this close to what it means to live every day in a natural world, without amenities, security, or the usual comforts. On top of that is the story of a woman who grabbed every ounce of life--married three times, friends with Carnegies and descendants of slaves, smarter than politicians and crooked sheriffs, tracker of gators and friends with vultures. Carol is truly one of a kind, and here to be discovered in an intelligent, thoughtful, enthralling tale.

One final note. It is customary now to refer to people in a book by their last names regardless of gender, though in previous decades women were referred to by their first names and only men by their last. Feminism brought this discrepancy to the fore, and most reviewers have followed suit. In almost every review I do too. But by the end of this book, I felt like I knew Carol well, and had walked with her on her daily forays into the woods or onto the beach. Citing her as Ruckdeschel seemed pendantic and not true to the story of her life. The author, Will Harlan, always refers to her by her first name, and I do so here also.

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and well written story of the turtle woman of Cumberland Island. Her history and wild life interaction practices are rather unique for the current era, and sound much more likely or common as could be achieved in centuries prior when wilderness expansion and exploration in the USA were both far more common. It's nearly a 4 star in the capturing of her life's onus. But I could not round it up. It also holds a type of repeated and redundant factual knowledge telling that relates pattern and direction without any considerable lifting a lid to the "whys" for her choices. She follows fate to happenstance in one haphazard adventure association after another. Except that hers took her to another kind of "street" than is common for the majority of "structured work" averse and aloneness seeking individuals. Hearing a different drummer, absolutely. Hermits tend to have a hard time in modern society and she triumphed in having the kind of life she seemed to have desired from childhood. Irony reigns in some of her thinking and actions though, because she resides in the very place she chides to keep pristine. It is notable that many preachers of a style of life philosophy often make exceptions of themselves to the most stringent principles of their belief system.

I thought the shrimp industry saga was 4 star as it relates to sea turtle return. But at the same time it didn't explain at length (somewhat but not to dicey particulars)how shrimp farming works in the Far East and what actual type of product we are often eating now. How that is quite different than Atlantic Ocean shrimp catch in quality and byproduct.

[Perri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book covers the history of Cumberland Isl, the biology of sea turtles, but most fascinating, the story of Carol Ruckdeschel, their fierce defender. Passionate, feisty, flawed, eccentric-I'm grateful to be in a world with individualists like Carol.

[David McGwire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carol is complicated and controversial. She doesn't fit the classic formula for a hero. Yet that's the only word to describe her. It's hard to find heroes these days--individuals willing to stand their ground and fight for something larger than themselves. Carol is a true, flesh-and-blood hero who courageously defends sea turtles and their wild habitat on Cumberland Island, a national seashore and wilderness along the Georgia coast.

Carol is not without flaws, and Harlan artfully portrays a complete portrait of Carol, warts and all. Though he follows Carol for nearly two decades, he does not put her on a pedestal. He points out her shortcomings and includes the voices of many rivals and opponents who despise Carol for her sordid past and stubborn, uncompromising defense of wilderness. Yet somehow, I was surprised to find myself rooting for a woman who shot and killed her ex-lover.

Many of Carol's detractors are Carnegie and Rockefeller heirs. Carol--a dirt-poor loner living in a ramshackle cabin--takes on the world's wealthiest families, and wins...for awhile, at least. She renews my hope in the power of an individual fighting passionately for what is right and true.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually write reviews, but in this case, I feel like I need to. Untamed is immensely readable. I was hooked from the first page. Once I moved past her penchant for eating roadkill & her unique, if stomach churning way of killing ticks, this story pulled me in. This book is part history lesson, part biology lesson, with some drama mixed in. But mostly this is a love story. Carols' love of Cumberland and the turtles & gators & vultures & horses & every wild creature she comes into contact with. Her passion for protecting these animals moved me. This whole book moved me. So much so, that when I finished it last night & turned off my light, I cried myself to sleep. The copy that I read came from the library, but I plan to buy my own copy as there were so many quotes that I wanted to remember, I wanted to highlight them. And I rarely do that. Carol Ruckdeschel & those brave souls like her are my heroes. She is complicated but simple & I understand her. This book is a plea for saving the animals because they can save us from ourselves. I strongly & gladly recommend this book to everyone & anyone.

[Chuck McGrady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, and I guess I say that because it is consistent with the woman I met and spent a little time with. The book is about Carol Ruckdeschel's life, but it is about more--about Cumberland Island, about turtles, about how all species (including our own) are connected. As someone who has fought for some of the same things as Carol, I'm ofttimes wondering whether anything I do makes a difference. I'm not sure I'll ever know. But I enjoyed reading this book because it speaks to why I do what I do---just like the Bill Mankin's (one of Carol's and my mutual friends) of the world. The book tells a good story, but the story rings true.

[Dianne Retzlaff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn’t read like a typical biography. A number of years ago, I read a fiction novel about the sea turtles habitation based on the shores of South Carolina. This bio contains bits of science, history, humanitarian efforts, love affairs and name droppers all revolving around the extinction and attempts of preserving nature.

[Jody · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Carol Ruckdeschel is the wildest woman in America. She eats roadkill, wrestles alligators, and dissects dead turtles that wash ashore. She lives on a wilderness island in a ramshackle cabin that she built herself, and she eats mostly what she hunts, gathers, and grows. She is a hard-drinking, gun-toting, modern-day Thoreau who is even more outspoken in protecting her Waldenesque island.” –from the prologue of Untamed by Will Harlan

You know those blurbs on the backs of books that recommend that you clear your schedule because what you’re about to read is THAT good? I can say that with total conviction about Untamed. Carol Ruckdeschel is a modern day hero stripped of all attributes of modernity. At a young age she realized that her love of nature was so all consuming that she had to find a way to live in it, unhindered by society. Luckily for the ecosystem on Cumberland Island, a sprawling island along coastal Georgia that contains an unprecedented variety of wild life, Carol did just that. She fell in love with Cumberland much to the dismay of the long line of Carnegies that inhabited it and those that hoped the island would become a major tourist draw.
Since then, she’s been its guardian, voice, and defender. Long live Carol Ruckdeschel. You’ll not only fall in love with Carol but also all of Cumberland Island’s wild life, especially the sea turtles that she fiercely protects like a mama bear. I definitely had a book hangover after this. I’ll never forget Carol and what I learned about how important it is to protect what limited wilderness areas are actually left on our planet.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm convinced that Will Harlan fell under the spell of Carol Ruckdeschel! How else could he find so many superlatives to describe this controversial conservationist. Here was an Amazonian super women eating roadkill, fearless as she wades through the snake infested swamps of Cumberland Island or when she straddles an alligator while tying it's jaws shut. A woman who swims naked on the back of a giant sea turtle. I respected the fact that Ruckdeschel fought for the conservation of Cumberland Island (despite the hypocrisy of being one of a few who could live permanently on it) and was completely dedicated to learning and studying nature, particularly her research of sea turtles. However, a magazine article would have been enough. Even the book's title displayed the hyperbole that I detected throughout the book.

[Donia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like reading non fiction about unique women; women who lead lives that are outside the norm; women who are an inspiration. Though I found Carol Ruckdeshel an interesting subject, I had great difficulty with the choppy style in which this book was written. It was a tiring task and an unpleasing experience to plow my way through this choppy story.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Jane was to chimps and Diane was to gorillas so Carol is to the sea turtles of Cumberland Island off Georgia's coast. What an extraordinary life in the wild she has lived, clear-eyed about what is best for the turtles and, with the big picture in mind, always fighting for our planet's survival.

[Melanie Cutietta · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very interesting and inspiring topic. However, writer had an affected voice throughout the narrative, and it was an absolute turn-off. Completed about 3/4 of the book before I was unwilling to pick it up anymore.

[Darlene Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best I have read this year! Perfect combination of facts and personal accounts and life experiences. The world needs people like carol to protect and save our animals and lands!

[Scott Wise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is hard to rate. It feels like a mash-up of serious conversations on the biology and ecology of a beloved island trapped between two worlds and tall-tales of the legend of the mysterious island hermit. Part of this is because of the crazy and unique life that Carol has led from living alone to budding with the President of the United States. However, in this telling it feels more at times to come from a desire to meet our needs to live vicariously through a character who is larger than life. I enjoyed the paradoxes created by following Carol's journey, but sometimes the transitions between the sides seemed a little disjointed. Although, maybe that comes from the nature of Carol herself as well.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting true story of a woman who is so determined and brave to save and preserve the animals and nature around Cumberland Island. She lives off the land, eats roadkill, goes up against the wealthy Carnegie family, and risks her life for what she believes in. Some of the historical parts not involving Carol were a little bleh, but overall really enjoyed the adventures of Carol and the drama that followed her.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friends gave me this book because they knew I plan to visit Cumberland Island later this fall. It’s a page turner. Carol Ruckdeschel’s life—from her untraditional childhood to her remarkable work to preserve Cumberland Island as a wilderness area—reads like an adventure novel. There are so many potential spoilers here that I won’t say more, but I highly recommend this book.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Most of us have opinions and principles that we argue and vote for, but we still live our everyday lives like everyone else: buying food at the grocery store, watching television, driving to work for corporate America. Carol is different. She lives her convictions every day, without compromise.” p. 288

I try to be a woman of my convictions and make a stand when I should, but I don’t stand by my beliefs with any regularity. So I can’t imagine how Carol Ruckdeschel does what she does. How does one person become the speaker for a cause like turtles and wildness and all that makes up Cumberland Island? This amazing woman should be honored by everyone. Without her uncompromising passion, the United States and the world would have lost something precious.

I just wish her determination had really saved this diverse ecological area. Unfortunately, we humans keep doing things to mess up the earth and so Ruckdeschel’s work must continue long after she is gone. I hope the island gets another person to speak for it. Otherwise it will become another ruined opportunity.

Harlan has also done us a favor. His biography of Ruckdeschel is a well written, fascinating adventure story. He did his research, interviewed lots of people and is able to tell the story of Cumberland Island clearly and passionately. If Ruckdeschel’s story was not told well we would have all said it had to be fiction. Harlan made sure that as many people as possible would see the truth.

It seems impossible that one woman, who never finished college, could have accomplished all that Ruckdeschel has. This is a tale that should not be missed. I recommend Ruckdeschel’s biography to all readers. Even if you don’t usually read non-fiction, I believe you will find this book worth reading.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carol Ruckdeschel was a remarkable character, and comes alive in this detailed, well researched and memorable portrait of her. It’s a true life saga, an adventure story of someone who devoted her whole life to protecting the wilderness of Cumberland Island, off the coast of Georgia, and her quest to save the sea turtles that nest there from extinction. She was very much a “wild woman”, living off the land in primitive conditions, and totally devoted to the natural world that she knew to be so threatened by development. A self-taught scientist, she could hold her own with the great and good of the academic world – but never wanted to be part of that world.
Will Harlan knew her well and this book is a wonderful introduction not just to Carol herself but the natural and ecological world she lived for. Scientific digressions scattered throughout the book on all matter of topics are both informative and entertaining. The only thing that spoilt the book for me was the reconstructions of conversations that it seems unlikely Harlan was there to actually record. Maybe Ruckdeschel had perfect recall and narrated these conversations to the author but they still rang false, and weren’t necessary. In a book that concentrates on the real world, such fictional scenarios are out of place.
However, all in all this is a thoroughly entertaining book, which taught me about a place I’d never heard of and a brave and inspiring woman I’d never heard of and I found it both compelling and deeply moving.

[Kurtbg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent read about a woman, Carol Ruckdeschel, born in the 1940's with a love for nature. She shed the skin of modern life and decided to live a pared down and self-sufficient life trying to protect a complex ecosystem on Cumberland island off the coast of Georgia. The author writes well, and weaves in the back stories of history, ecology, to provide a better sense of understanding and purpose to what drives Carol.

Carol deals with feral animals destroying natural fauna and flora, Carnegie family heirs, federal agencies, self-serving and supportive politicians, and the unstoppable tidal wave of human profit and consumption. She tries to find meaning and purpose in life without the social trappings most grow up with concerning gender roles and tries to make a difference to a dying wilderness full of wonder. Where goes nature, so goes man.

Very few attain such a level of independence, care, and focus on a cause that rises above the small time we have on this planet, and leaves such a large mark in so short of a time.

[Adrienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not doubt Carol is an interesting woman or subject but I couldn't get past the writing. It immediately struck me as stilted and sentimental. I imagine it's difficult to write objectively about someone you know and admire. The dialogue and recollections of conversations or events that happened came off as fictionalized. But I appreciate anyone who works to help and save sea turtles. I would recommend reading an article on her if you're interested in her work.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to warm up to this book. The subject is a woman so primal, so wild, even feral. She studies turtles and other wildlife on Cumberland Island. I had no idea how many turtles were dying in shrimper's nets. If a man lives in the wild and is self sufficient, he is admired. But when a woman does it, they call her crazy.

[Blair Hatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read. One human so inclined can make such a huge difference in this struggle to save our wild spaces. Nice blend of much needed environmental science and unique biography.
What are we doing to counter the destruction that overpopulation and human ignorance puts on our earth?

[Jill Harlan youse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book! I agree with Barnes and Nobles in making him a 2014 best new author! Can't wait to see what he writes next.