In 1957, American journalist Leland Stowe published a biography of a North Carolina man named Ralph Edwards (1892-1977) who had settled in the Cascade mountains of British Columbia for over 50 years, from 1913 to 1965. Edwards homesteaded 40 miles from neighbors, living off the land, shooting grizzly, raising a family of three children. Stowe compares him to Robinson Crusoe but Swiss Family Robinson would be better. Stowe's book was popular and made Edwards famous enough to be a guest on the Christmas Day edition of This Is Your Life in 1957. The book and Edwards story has been a cult favorite ever since, best known in British Columbia but appealing to anyone tired of civilization and inspired by the idea of being self-sufficient in the wilderness.

Based on later interviews with his children, Edwards was a tough old bird, he ruled his house unconditionally, it was not a soft or forgiving environment to grow up in. Such is the way with brilliant people, paradoxes of good and bad. In his 70s, Edwards abandoned the farm, and his wife, so he could take up commercial ocean fishing. And in 2007 the entire place burned down in a forest fire, back to nature as if it had never existed. In light of this, the pioneer myth created by Stowe begins to weaken, and could be seen as a projection of our own dreams and desires. Edwards didn't do it for the sake of being self-sufficient or famous, he did it because there was no one else to do it for him. He was dirt poor and running from the chaotic world of his youth, parents who were interested in their careers who shuffled him off to schools and relatives. He found a sort of stability in the granite mountains where he could be whatever he wanted through books and the mind cleansing joy of physical labor, protected from winds of constant change yet free to follow his dreams.

--Review by Stephen Balbach, via CoolReading (c) 2011 cc-by-nd