What do you think?
Rate this book
Raven's Witness: The Alaska Life of Richard K. Nelson
2020 Banff Mountain Book Competition Finalist in Mountain LiteratureRichard K. Nelson was the host of the national public radio series, "Encounters"Nelson was an anthropologist who lived with Alaska Native tribes and spoke both Inupiag and KoyukonBased on Nelson’s journals and interviews with Gary Snyder, Barry Lopez, Rick Bass, and others"He listened to his [Native Alaskan] teachers, immersed himself in their landscapes as a naturalist, and became, without intending to, a great teacher himself." --Barry Lopez, from the forewordBefore his death in 2019, cultural anthropologist, author, and radio producer Richard K. Nelson’s work focused primarily on the indigenous cultures of Alaska and, more generally, on the relationships between people and nature. Nelson lived for extended periods in Athabaskan and Alaskan Eskimo villages, experiences which inspired his earliest written works, including Hunters of the Northern Ice In Raven’s Witness, Lentfer tells Nelson’s story--from his midwestern childhood to his first experiences with Native culture in Alaska through his own lifelong passion for the land where he so belonged. Nelson was the author of the bestselling The Island Within and Heart and Blood. The recipient of multiple honorary degrees and numerous literary awards, he regularly packed auditoriums when he spoke. His depth of experience allowed him to become an intermediary between worlds. This is his story.Find out more at www.ravenswitness.com, and learn how you can help bring this story to life here.
309 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 7, 2020
45 people are currently reading
383 people want to read
About the author
Hank Lentfer
4 books19 followersNear as I can figure, I may well be the most fortunate bloke alive. Consider: I live on the edge of the largest, contiguous, bear-blessed, wolverine-wandered, crane-graced, salmon-saturated stretch of wild land left on the planet. I could, with enough grit and a big enough back pack, step from my door and ramble and wallow through some 30 million acres without encountering so much as a cigarette butt, much less a human butt. I could (and sometimes do) board a little air taxi and trust that prop to buzz, nonstop, through mountain passes to the capital city where I can get my tooth ache fixed. A wooly teeming landscape and Novocain – I got it all going on, the best of the Pleistocene alongside the best of modern living.
Over the years, watching the Industrial Revolution revolutionize yet another patch of wildness, I’ve worked hard to keep my despair in check. I am happy to report the effort is paying off. Not that I don’t get bummed by our seemingly endless ability to keep making the same mistakes, but I have learned to balance the bummedness with increasingly long bouts of celebration, and wonder, and (when I am most lucky) pure joy. Faith of Cranes is the book I wrote about this work and this joy. This blog is another way I hope to share the challenges and rewards of living and loving the last scraps of vast teeming wildness.
Over the years, watching the Industrial Revolution revolutionize yet another patch of wildness, I’ve worked hard to keep my despair in check. I am happy to report the effort is paying off. Not that I don’t get bummed by our seemingly endless ability to keep making the same mistakes, but I have learned to balance the bummedness with increasingly long bouts of celebration, and wonder, and (when I am most lucky) pure joy. Faith of Cranes is the book I wrote about this work and this joy. This blog is another way I hope to share the challenges and rewards of living and loving the last scraps of vast teeming wildness.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
August 1, 2020
Someone asked me what I was doing the other day and I casually replied that I was reading the new autobiography of Richard Nelson. It was an unthinking slip of the tongue, but even as I caught myself I realized the kernel of truth that it contained. For Hank Lentfer’s newly published biography is so deeply sourced in Richard’s own letters, journals, recordings and campfire conversations, and Hank’s narrative voice so closely channels Richard’s own, that I often felt like it was Nels himself who was the author of Raven’s Witness (Mountaineers Books 2020).
Occasionally, Hank erases the fourth wall and speaks directly to his reader, but for the most part he is content to let Richard’s words and memories carry the story. Or so it seems at any rate. As with his earlier book, Faith of Cranes: Finding Hope and Family in Alaska, Hank Lentfer writes with grace. And as Norman Maclean taught us, “grace comes by art; and art does not come easy.” The art and grace that both Hank and Richard could summon in their writing does not come easy; they merely make it appear so, and I am sure that is true of Hank’s literary ventriloquism as well.
Anyone who has read Richard’s most celebrated book, the lyrical, mystical meditation titled The Island Within, knows already what Hank makes so clear in these pages: Nels was at ease with nature, comfortable with it, yet always curious, always respectful, always delighted in a giddy, almost childlike way. He was a close observer, but also a teacher and guide who could help others, even urbanites who only dip their toes in the wild from time to time, catch a glimpse of what it would be like to live at one with the natural world. I owe him a great personal debt for the glimpses of that life he shared with me. His joy was infectious.
Raven’s Witness is an intimate biography, the tender telling of a friend’s life. But it is also an important contribution to the field of conservation literature. Richard Nelson loved wild places and used the tools at his disposal to fight for those that remain. So does Hank Lentfer. His book places Richard in the company of other giants like Barry Lopez and Gary Snyder. And it points the way to contributions we each can make in our own way. It is a work of advocacy of the most sincere and loving kind.
Reflecting on the education he’d received by paying close attention to Inupiaq hunters early in his adulthood, Richard remarked: “There are ways of becoming worthy of the lessons taught you, most of all by passing them along.” Hank Lentfer has passed along some of the lessons he learned from Nels and I hope they will find a broad audience.
Occasionally, Hank erases the fourth wall and speaks directly to his reader, but for the most part he is content to let Richard’s words and memories carry the story. Or so it seems at any rate. As with his earlier book, Faith of Cranes: Finding Hope and Family in Alaska, Hank Lentfer writes with grace. And as Norman Maclean taught us, “grace comes by art; and art does not come easy.” The art and grace that both Hank and Richard could summon in their writing does not come easy; they merely make it appear so, and I am sure that is true of Hank’s literary ventriloquism as well.
Anyone who has read Richard’s most celebrated book, the lyrical, mystical meditation titled The Island Within, knows already what Hank makes so clear in these pages: Nels was at ease with nature, comfortable with it, yet always curious, always respectful, always delighted in a giddy, almost childlike way. He was a close observer, but also a teacher and guide who could help others, even urbanites who only dip their toes in the wild from time to time, catch a glimpse of what it would be like to live at one with the natural world. I owe him a great personal debt for the glimpses of that life he shared with me. His joy was infectious.
Raven’s Witness is an intimate biography, the tender telling of a friend’s life. But it is also an important contribution to the field of conservation literature. Richard Nelson loved wild places and used the tools at his disposal to fight for those that remain. So does Hank Lentfer. His book places Richard in the company of other giants like Barry Lopez and Gary Snyder. And it points the way to contributions we each can make in our own way. It is a work of advocacy of the most sincere and loving kind.
Reflecting on the education he’d received by paying close attention to Inupiaq hunters early in his adulthood, Richard remarked: “There are ways of becoming worthy of the lessons taught you, most of all by passing them along.” Hank Lentfer has passed along some of the lessons he learned from Nels and I hope they will find a broad audience.
July 10, 2020
Two kindred souls come together in this inspiring book. The author, life-long Alaskan Hank Lentfer—a land steward, hunter, forager, and former park ranger—met anthropologist Richard Nelson three decades ago. Separated by almost a generation in age, the two became as close as brothers through their shared love of Alaska’s wild lands and their respect for the traditional lifeways of Alaska’s indigenous people. They hiked, camped, and kayaked together, observing deer and bears, listening to birdsong, scaling glaciers, all the while trading stories, animal lore, and laughter. It was the laughter of Coyote or Raven, mischievous, raucous, ribald, but with a dark undertone of grief. The felling of forests, dwindling of wildlife, melting of permafrost, wildfires in the Arctic, erosion of coastlines from rising seas—all revealed the web of life unraveling. What the companions sought, through all those journeys and conversations, was a recovery of traditional knowledge and the discovery of new knowledge that might enable humans to live in harmony with one another, with our fellow species, and with Earth.
With Hank Lentfer and other close friends at his bedside, Richard Nelson died in November 2019, just shy of his 78th birthday. He left behind several vital books, including Make Prayers to the Raven: A Koyukon View of the Northern Forest (1983), Heart and Blood: Living with Deer in America (1997), and, finest of all, his visionary testament, The Island Within (1989). He also left behind thousands of pages of journals, letters, and field notes. Lentfer drew on these written materials as well as his own memories in composing this deeply sympathetic portrait.
In one of Nelson’s letters to his parents, he lamented, “We just weren’t meant to live in this age, where people act as if all the earth is just made to gratify men and machines.” And in another, he wrote, “This is the wrong time in history to care deeply about nature.” For someone who cared deeply about nature, no friend could have been more consoling, more uplifting, than Hank Lentfer. Encouraged by this friendship, Lentfer wrote his own testament of love for place and wildness, the compact, powerful Faith of Cranes: Finding Hope and Family in Alaska (2011). Raven’s Witness is a beautiful book, not only for its tribute to a wildlands genius, whose voice rings through these pages, but also for its eloquent prose and moral vision.
With Hank Lentfer and other close friends at his bedside, Richard Nelson died in November 2019, just shy of his 78th birthday. He left behind several vital books, including Make Prayers to the Raven: A Koyukon View of the Northern Forest (1983), Heart and Blood: Living with Deer in America (1997), and, finest of all, his visionary testament, The Island Within (1989). He also left behind thousands of pages of journals, letters, and field notes. Lentfer drew on these written materials as well as his own memories in composing this deeply sympathetic portrait.
In one of Nelson’s letters to his parents, he lamented, “We just weren’t meant to live in this age, where people act as if all the earth is just made to gratify men and machines.” And in another, he wrote, “This is the wrong time in history to care deeply about nature.” For someone who cared deeply about nature, no friend could have been more consoling, more uplifting, than Hank Lentfer. Encouraged by this friendship, Lentfer wrote his own testament of love for place and wildness, the compact, powerful Faith of Cranes: Finding Hope and Family in Alaska (2011). Raven’s Witness is a beautiful book, not only for its tribute to a wildlands genius, whose voice rings through these pages, but also for its eloquent prose and moral vision.
August 31, 2020
RAVEN’S WITNESS
This powerful book is a double helix about two friends, one writing about the other in celebration and defense of the natural world. And more, it’s about the voices of elders who can teach and inspire us… if we listen. Three hundred years from now, as our descendants stagger through the ruins of humanity's ignorance and greed, one among them may find a tattered copy of RAVEN’S WITNESS and say, “Look. All they had to do was read this. All our ancestors had to do was take to heart the message in this beautiful and profound book. If they had, much this devastation could have been avoided. The bountiful, beautiful, blue-green Earth could have been saved.” But it’s today, not tomorrow. The future remains unwritten. And the book is here, filled with wisdom and lessons on how to conduct ourselves. It’s not too late. Still. It’s. Not. Too. Late.
This powerful book is a double helix about two friends, one writing about the other in celebration and defense of the natural world. And more, it’s about the voices of elders who can teach and inspire us… if we listen. Three hundred years from now, as our descendants stagger through the ruins of humanity's ignorance and greed, one among them may find a tattered copy of RAVEN’S WITNESS and say, “Look. All they had to do was read this. All our ancestors had to do was take to heart the message in this beautiful and profound book. If they had, much this devastation could have been avoided. The bountiful, beautiful, blue-green Earth could have been saved.” But it’s today, not tomorrow. The future remains unwritten. And the book is here, filled with wisdom and lessons on how to conduct ourselves. It’s not too late. Still. It’s. Not. Too. Late.
August 10, 2020
Loved this deeply. Have read many good bios of this type but Hank has done a superlative job. It felt like tagging along in person with Richard throughout his life. Gripping, fun stories of daily survival in frontier-era Alaska (when one of your dogs chews through its harness late in the day and 20 miles from home in mid-winter...) and fresh insight into native lifeways and relationship with land and nature. For those of us who feel deeply all we have lost, or fatigued in our conservation work, Richard reminds us of the importance of play, and offers a way to balance and rejuice through sharing the beauty, joy and lessons of the wild.
November 25, 2023
The best way to approach this book is to divide it into thirds. The first third: life among the indigenous Alaskans, the second: finding a home in Alaska, the third: return to the indigenous areas. I loved every part of this book except for the parts in which Nelson began writing a new book, at which point this book became a somewhat painful read. However, it seems like that may have been the point, as his writing process was through brute force and seemed not at all enjoyable. The sections with the indigenous Alaskans were very enjoyable though. It's interesting to see how nature was not just something they appreciate, but something that was truly a part of them, and them a part of nature. Seeing Nelson's growth from a Midwesterner among the natives to being accepted as one of them was very cool.
April 5, 2023
Now I really want to go to Alaska. A beautiful account of a man who grew to love the world as his life and who used his voice to honor her. He humbled himself to quietly witness the world in all her majesty that he became the kind of person that animals came to—even a doe. A modern baseball cap wearing, foul-mouthed Snow White (his use of language is only referred to, not actually used in the book).
January 14, 2022
This book was so well-written, and a perfect fit for anyone with passion for the outdoors, Alaskana or Alaska Native culture. Loved every word.
May 17, 2023
I mainly read autobiography rather than biography, but this was so finely crafted and immersive. Hank weaves lyrical descriptions with Richard’s own writings, creating a tight narrative that gives a glimpse into the sensitive, gentle soul Richard was. We learn both about Koyukon ways of perceiving the world and witness how Richard found such wonder and joy in nature. A couple of passages (from Richard) extracted below:
“The fact that Westerners identify this remote country as wilderness reflects their inability to conceive of occupying and utilizing an environment without fundamentally altering its natural state.”
“I give thanks for the world, for the gift of dying before it is gone, and for my eyes that live now and can see.”
Painstakingly researched for sure, but a real pleasure to read.
“The fact that Westerners identify this remote country as wilderness reflects their inability to conceive of occupying and utilizing an environment without fundamentally altering its natural state.”
“I give thanks for the world, for the gift of dying before it is gone, and for my eyes that live now and can see.”
Painstakingly researched for sure, but a real pleasure to read.
October 17, 2020
A gifted artist and insightful scientist, Richard K. Nelson devoted his adult life to understanding and living well and wisely in Alaska. This beautiful biography shares Nelson's experiences, from his young adulthood in Native villages to his eventual position as an admired elder statesman in Southeast Alaska. Nelson's friend and fellow Alaskan Hank Lentfer is the perfect biographer, a talented storyteller who understands not only how Nelson lived but why he chose to live as he did, deeply connected with nature. After years of friendship, it's easy to see why Nelson trusted Lentfer with his papers. I came away not only educated about the life of a writer I admire, but inspired by the lifeways of a very special person.
June 25, 2021
The first book about Alaska that I read just after I moved to Alaska was Richard Nelson's, "The Island Within." While I don't remember the details of this book that I read 24 years ago, I do remember how it made me feel - a sense of awe, a reverence, a deep appreciation for this place I wanted to make my home.
A couple of years ago, just before Richard passed away, I learned that friends of mine were close friends with him. When I shared my feelings about "The Island Within," they smiled knowingly. Reading "Raven's Witness," by Hank Lentfer made me realize that I'm just a fangirl. Richard's work and passions touched the lives of so many people. I'm grateful that mine is one of them.
"Raven's Witness" made me laugh and cry. It's beautifully written. I high recommend it.
A couple of years ago, just before Richard passed away, I learned that friends of mine were close friends with him. When I shared my feelings about "The Island Within," they smiled knowingly. Reading "Raven's Witness," by Hank Lentfer made me realize that I'm just a fangirl. Richard's work and passions touched the lives of so many people. I'm grateful that mine is one of them.
"Raven's Witness" made me laugh and cry. It's beautifully written. I high recommend it.
January 6, 2023
This is the second 5 star bio I've read in a month. Perhaps this is a new genre for me to explore and read. I loved this book and the few photographs mingled in. A friend writing about a friend and using his journal excerpts to share Nelson's writing. I need to read some of Nelson's books, but I'll hold onto this copy to refer to for some beautiful passages about the wonder of nature and the lessons to be learned from indigenous Alaskans and all of nature around us.
October 16, 2020
Didn't enjoy this book because I had no context. Who is Richard Nelson? Went into this book expecting more insight into life in Alaska/nature in Alaska.
Want to read
November 13, 202011/13/20 How I found it: The Wall Stree Journal had an interesting review. It sounds like a compelling boot that is short too, 256 pages (paywalled content) ‘Raven’s Witness’ Review: Wisdom and Ecstasy Richard Nelson arrived in the Arctic in pursuit of survival skills. Alaska taught him something else entirely.
August 14, 2020
It is a daunting task to attempt to pen a critique of a biography of one of one's favorite authors. However, it is easy to say that this author did a really fine job of explaining the heart and soul of Nelson's conclusions about how our society should, and has not, understood how man relates to Nature. I look forward to rereading this fine book
September 11, 2020
This is a beautiful book written about an extraordinary man by a friend who know and loved the man and his work. You will look at Alaska its people, climate and animals in a new way. The world lost an unusual man in Richard K. Nelson and his friend Hank Lentfer told his world view story in a meaningful way.
September 21, 2022
I enjoyed this — an engaging biography of an author and anthropologist who lived a fascinating life in the North. Now I want to read Richard Nelson's works, but they don't seem to be available in digital format.
October 30, 2022
Richard Nelson's "The Island Within" is one of my favorite books, so it was with particular interest I read "Raven's witness." I appreciated getting further insight into this remarkable man. Thank you, Hank Lentfer.
August 24, 2025
Lentfer was able to convey the details of Richard K. Nelson's life in simple terms. It is the ability to pay attention, listen, and not judge which will go far in dealing with other humans and animals.
September 26, 2020
Loved it. Hank is a great writer and he really gave a good portrait of Richard Nelson. It helped that Nels' parents kept every single letter he ever wrote them!
December 2, 2020
I had never heard of Richard Nelson but I really enjoyed this book about his somewhat weird life. This was a happy surprise!
January 18, 2021
Will add reveiw soon
January 24, 2021
Beautifully written biography by an obviously dear and close friend of Richard Nelson.
February 4, 2021
Best book I’ve read in a long time. Huge fan of Richard K Nelson and now a huge fan of Hank Lentfer.
June 9, 2021
Loved this book. Fascinating man who lived an inspiring life.
June 28, 2021
I had no idea I would love this book so much! If you are interested in humanity, nature and/or Alaska, you want to read this. Nels was a cool dude.
August 24, 2023
Amazing writing, both Hank Lentfer's and Richard K. Nelson's.
December 18, 2024
What a beautiful book about a fascinating person.
September 30, 2021
Lentfer's homage is written with an authentic and humble prose, colorful yet unpretentious. A beautiful tribute to an exceptional human being!
October 15, 2022
Not a review, just some notes
Basil sands gave a good narration...except for when talking about below temps...negative as opposed to minus
Hunting in Wainwright where the others left him to fix his dog’s harness...if he hadn’t shown up by the next day would someone have gone looking for him? He might have been dead by then.
Spring break up... birds, melting snow...warmth from the sun...sound of the ice cracking...more daylight...awwwww
Conversation about Birds and taboos. Hooclan-née
Grebe-walk awkward
Beaver meat-pregnant-ties turn inward
Bragging about hunting...bad
Kingfisher...dirty leaving fish to rot
Loon one call and dies...bad
Two loons good luck
It an be a Hard decision between jobs and environment in a small community. We like books...need to have paper for that...petroleum development isn’t just for making gasoline.
Looking for grant or funding so didn’t need to look for work...privilege or talent?
Patriotism to the land itself, rather than to the people.
Hanks entry to work starts in part 4 home, land, sea
Any Drawings in journals?
Basil sands gave a good narration...except for when talking about below temps...negative as opposed to minus
Hunting in Wainwright where the others left him to fix his dog’s harness...if he hadn’t shown up by the next day would someone have gone looking for him? He might have been dead by then.
Spring break up... birds, melting snow...warmth from the sun...sound of the ice cracking...more daylight...awwwww
Conversation about Birds and taboos. Hooclan-née
Grebe-walk awkward
Beaver meat-pregnant-ties turn inward
Bragging about hunting...bad
Kingfisher...dirty leaving fish to rot
Loon one call and dies...bad
Two loons good luck
It an be a Hard decision between jobs and environment in a small community. We like books...need to have paper for that...petroleum development isn’t just for making gasoline.
Looking for grant or funding so didn’t need to look for work...privilege or talent?
Patriotism to the land itself, rather than to the people.
Hanks entry to work starts in part 4 home, land, sea
Any Drawings in journals?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews