Book description
Into the Wild meets Helter Skelter in this riveting true story of a modern-day homesteading family in the deepest reaches of the Alaskan wildernessâand of the chilling secrets of its maniacal, spellbinding patriarch.
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When Papa Pilgrim, his wife, and their fifteen children appeared in the Alaska frontier outpost ofâŚ
Why read it?
1 author picked Pilgrim's Wilderness as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Kizziaâs prose and reporting are unequaled, but this dark, Gothic tale is hard to read because of the real-life horror it exposes. The Pilgrim family came to Alaska in 2002, wrapping themselves in fundamentalist Christianity and fighting with the federal government like true pioneers in the wildernessâthey became a cause for the right because of how they seemed to fulfill Alaskaâs frontier myth. But it turned out the patriarch of the family had created a weird prison of rape and abuse for his uneducated children, which Kizzia was able to get inside with vividly told scenes. And that truth tellsâŚ
From Charles' list on The best books by real Alaskans about the dark, gritty, beautiful truth of Alaska.
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