STRONGHOLD Media
Fly Fishing Magazine
PODCASTS/RADIO/BLOGS
PRAISE
“Captivating . . . Malarkey effortlessly glides between topics, making for an excellent mix of adventure, geopolitical deal making, and ecological and environmental reporting.” —Publishers Weekly
“A crazy good, intensely lived book that reads like an international thriller—only it’s our beloved salmon playing the part of diamonds or oil or gold.” —David James Duncan, author of The River Why and The Brothers K
“A gripping chronicle . . . The stakes aren’t just sport fishing’s future, or even people’s dinner. Salmon, it turns out, is a so-called keystone species upon which entire ecosystems depend. . . . Malarkey plots Rahr’s exploits with the skill of a novelist and the affection of a close relative.” —Bloomberg News
“If you’re convinced that tackling unwieldy issues like mass extinction is beyond the power of one person, pick up Stronghold. Author Tucker Malarkey’s globe-trotting tale of a fly-fisherman trying to prevent endangered Pacific Rim salmon from going the way of the dodo is sure to inspire.” —Outside
“Stronghold is first and foremost a story of adventure, danger, and intrigue. Full of surly Russian bush pilots, specially bred bear defense huskies, and close-up encounters with salmon and taimen in some of the last unexplored waters on earth.” —Fly Fisherman
“[Stronghold] captured my heart, broke it, inspired it and took my breath away. . . . It’s one of those books, like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks or . . . Half the Sky, that reshaped my thinking and opened the world to me in a new way.” —Cassandra Campbell, “The Narrator’s Favorite Performance of 2019,” Audible
“[Stronghold] has plenty to intrigue and inspire.” —The Oregonian
“An on-the-ground and in-the-stream view of an unconventional salmon savant . . . Unflashy but effective prose that may remind you of Ian Frazier and John McPhee.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“[Stronghold] serves up environmental writing as clear as the world’s most pristine waters. . . . Ms. Malarkey has pulled off the rather remarkable feat of capturing her unusual cousin and his mission in words—the journalistic equivalent of snagging an elusive, 80- pound trophy taimen on a fly.” —The Wall Street Journal
“The Melvillian showdown between this extraordinary man and his equally extraordinary quarry forms the climax of Stronghold. . . . Rahr’s passion for salmon is contagious, and Malarkey channels it well. . . . [She] is a novelist by trade, and it shows.” —Nate Blakeslee, The New York Times Book Review
“Remarkable . . . Malarkey conveys the art of [Rahr’s] fly-fishing and the evolution of his expansive knowledge . . . [and] captures [his] purity, determination, and adroit handling of both prominent Americans and Russian oligarchs, born of his drive to protect ‘stronghold’ rivers—unspoiled by human development.” —The National Book Review
“Stronghold lets us tag along on the unpredictable adventure that is loving nature and spares us neither its sacrifices nor its rewards. It’s a book for everyone who has wished for a place where life is defended and upheld. For a place on earth that will make us whole.” —Hope Jahren, author of Lab Girl
“As a passionate admirer of all that Mother Nature provides to give life authentic meaning, I am in awe of wild salmon. Read Stronghold, the remarkable account of one man who is making a difference in our time on this precious planet.” —Tom Brokaw
“Salmon are the world’s most wondrous, most improbable fish, with a life that is epic, heroic, and tragic. Malarkey’s narrative action, pacing, and her human hero—Guido Rahr—all rise to the level that the subject requires. With our nets, dams, and clear-cutting, we do salmon no favors and add greatly to their tragedy. This book is about a man who is in many ways a passionate master in fighting for one of earth’s living miracles. But within that are many lessons for how to lead, how to get things done, and the imperative to keep at it—no matter what.” —Carl Safina, author of Song for the Blue Ocean and Beyond Words
“This book isn’t just about fish; it’s about life itself, and the fragile, unseen threads that connect all creatures across this beleaguered orb we call home. Guido Rahr’s quest to save the world’s wild salmon should serve as an inspiration, and a provocation, for us all, and Malarkey’s exquisite book captures his weird and wonderful story with poignancy, humor, and grace.” —Hampton Sides, author of In the Kingdom of Ice and Blood and Thunder
“All fishermen know that we have to fight to save the waters we love. Stronghold tells a captivating story of the struggle to save the last great salmon rivers.” —Johnny Morris, founder/owner of Bass Pro Shops and owner of Cabela’s
“A powerful and inspiring story. Guido Rahr’s mission to save the wild Pacific salmon leads him into adventures, especially in the remotest Russian Far East, that make for a breathtakingly exciting read.” —Ian Frazier, author of Travels in Siberia
“In this compelling journey of discovery, Tucker Malarkey tells the story of a visionary who never fit with ‘normal’ society but came to understand in the deepest way how the Pacific salmon helped create—and possibly could help save—the precious wild ecosystems of the Pacific Rim.” —Peter Stark, author of Young Washington and Astoria
“A vigorously told story of environmental activism that has succeeded despite the odds and an engaging journey into some of the planet’s wilder places.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Stronghold is the handsomely written account of an extraordinarily purposeful life on behalf of wild, beleaguered salmon, holding out on the edges of cities or the remote forests of the world, now in the crosshairs of every extractive industry on earth. It is, as well, an examination of what we may do with earth: use it up or care for it. Only one answer includes our own survival.” —Thomas McGuane, author of The Longest Silence
“Stronghold possesses the tangled geopolitical intrigue of a John le Carré novel, its setting a place and era that have been little explored by environmental journalists.” —High Country News
“The engrossing, well-told story of one man . . . Stronghold is a tribute to what one person’s passion, when well directed and with some timely assistance and luck, can achieve in saving some of our earth’s precious places and the life they give us.” —Anchorage Daily News
“When I’d gotten only a few pages into Tucker Malarkey’s Stronghold, I realized someone could write as well as [Laura] Hillenbrand. Make a sentence forcing me to read it over and over in pure disbelief and wonderment. I had a love affair with wordsmithing extraordinaire, again.” —Fly Life Magazine
“The best book on management to come out in the past year has nothing to do with management. It’s about fish—salmon, to be precise. More importantly, it’s about ‘strongholds,’ the simple idea that protecting what’s intact and thriving is essential to sustaining success.” —Business Insider
“Stronghold is an astonishing story, grippingly told, with the inspiring example at its heart of a man for whom the well-being of the natural world is the only goal. It is a story to counter any sense of despair. Tucker Malarkey, in one intriguing twist and turn after another, has shown that, with the application of rare talent, with luck, and at some personal cost, real good can in the end be done.” —Adam Nicolson, author of The Seabird’s Cry
“They should all read Stronghold by the improbably named Tucker Malarkey, a book . . . that describes the extraordinary story of Guido Rahr and his campaign to save the Pacific salmon.” —Magnus Linklater, The London Times
“Wild salmon are disappearing. . . . Tucker Malarkey has written a fascinating book about how one man has made it his life’s mission to save them.” —Today Programme, BBC Radio 4
“This book is both a wonderful adventure story and an inspiring lesson in how to achieve effective species conservation that bridges hostile continents.” —Country Life Magazine