Review: ' Pilgrim's wilderness ' by Tom Kizzia

 Parts of this post originally appeared on book Riot.

In 2002 bought Papa Pilgrim, a retired, Ultra religious family man, a 420-acre mining area in the middle of a park of the State of Alaska. Ignoring the warning of the local park officials, bulldozers Pilgrim the way of a 13-mile through the park to the small town of McCarthy so that his wife and 14 children could get to their house.

At first, many of its rural neighbors-sided with Pilgrim when the National Park Service came down on his small improvement project. As time passed, however, it became clear that life at the compound Pilgrim family not as rosy as it turned out. In Pilgrim's wilderness reveals the story of a charismatic outlaw journalist Tom Kizza and his final feud with its neighbours, the Government and his own family.

The blurb for Pilgrim's wilderness described the book as a mix between Into the Wild and Helter Skelter, which were comparisons I could not ignore it — I'm a total sucker for eccentric true crime books, especially those written by journalists. The setting of the book, the edge of one of the final frontiers of America, was another attractive piece of this story.

Although the ultimate reveal of Pilgrim as a physical, mental and sexual abuse psychopath is what makes this book outrageous, there is also a ton of interesting back and forth over property rights and life on the edge of the border. I was fascinated by the tensions that have arisen between the Government and the citizens of McCarthy on issues of resources and private property. In some ways I wish that the Central antagonist, Papa Pilgrim, had not turned out to be such a crazy dude because it distracts from that conflict. But I'm a nerd, so of course I think that Government would.

The story of how Pilgrim's children, especially his eldest daughter, finally got to him escape is incredibly courageous. I can not even imagine their lives, although Kizzia does a great job setting the stage and tell their stories sympathetic and honest. If you true crime and can handle a story about a large sociopath, then is Pilgrim's wilderness a book you will want to pick up.

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