James Campbell

The powerful and affirming story of a father's journey with his teenage daughter to the far reaches of Alaska Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, home to only a handful of people, is a harsh and lonely place. So when James Campbell's cousin Heimo Korth asked him to spend a summer building a cabin in the rugged Interior, Campbell hesitated about inviting his fifteen-year-old daughter, Aidan, to join him: Would she be able to withstand clouds of mosquitoes, the threat of grizzlies, bathing in an ice-cold river, and hours of grueling labor peeling and hauling logs? But once there, Aidan embraced the wild. She even agreed to return a few months later to help the Korths work their traplines and hunt for caribou and moose. Despite windchills of 50 degrees below zero, father and daughter ventured out daily to track, hunt, and trap. Under the supervision of Edna, Heimo's Yupik Eskimo wife, Aidan grew more confident in the woods. Campbell knew that in traditional Eskimo cultures, some daughters earned a rite of passage usually reserved for young men. So he decided to take Aidan back to Alaska one final time before she left home. It would be their third and most ambitious trip, backpacking over Alaska's Brooks Range to the headwaters of the mighty Hulahula River, where they would assemble a folding canoe and paddle to the Arctic Ocean. The journey would test them, and their relationship, in one of the planet's most remote places: a land of wolves, musk oxen, Dall sheep, golden eagles, and polar bears. At turns poignant and humorous, Braving It is an ode to America's disappearing wilderness and a profound meditation on what it means for a child to grow up--and a parent to finally, fully let go.

A Father, a Daughter, and an Unforgettable Journey to the Alaskan Wild

Braving It

The inspiration for The Last Alaskans—the eight-part documentary series on Animal Planet! Called “[one of] the greatest life-or-death-tales ever told” (Esquire), James Campbell’s inimitable insider account of a family’s nomadic life in the unshaped Arctic wilderness “is an icily gripping, intimate profile that stands up well beside Krakauer’s classic [Into the Wild], and it stands too, as a kind of testament to the rough beauty of improbably wild dreams” (Men’s Journal). Hundreds of hardy people have tried to carve a living in the Alaskan bush, but few have succeeded as consistently as Heimo Korth. Originally from Wisconsin, Heimo traveled to the Arctic wilderness in his feverous twenties. Now, more than three decades later, Heimo lives with his wife and two daughters approximately 200 miles from civilization—a sustainable, nomadic life bounded by the migrating caribou, the dangers of swollen rivers, and by the very exigencies of daily existence. In The Final Frontiersman, Heimo’s cousin James Campbell chronicles the Korth family’s amazing experience, their adventures, and the tragedy that continues to shape their lives. With a deft voice and in spectacular, at times unimaginable detail, Campbell invites us into Heimo’s heartland and home. The Korths wait patiently for a small plane to deliver their provisions, listen to distant chatter on the radio, and go sledding at 44° below zero—all the while cultivating the hard-learned survival skills that stand between them and a terrible fate. Awe-inspiring and memorable, The Final Frontiersman reads like a rustic version of the American Dream and reveals for the first time a life undreamed by most of us: amid encroaching environmental pressures, apart from the herd, and alone in a stunning wilderness that for now, at least, remains the final frontier.

Heimo Korth and His Family, Alone in Alaska's Arctic Wilderness

The Final Frontiersman

Patrick Wormald

Eric John

Traces the history of England from the end of Roman rule to the Norman Conquest

The Anglo-Saxons

Foreword by Minette Shepard The enchanting story of how illustrator, E.H. Shepard, created the classic illustrations for some of the most beloved characters in English children’s literature—Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Kanga, Roo, Christopher Robin, and more—and the remarkable partnership between the writer, A.A. Milne, and the illustrator that brought them to life, told for the first time in this beautiful volume illustrated with more than 125 full-color images from the Pooh series, never-before-seen sketches, artwork, family photographs, and memorabilia. Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends have enthralled generations of children and have become some of the world’s most beloved characters. But before their adventures were captured in many millions of books published in nearly fifty languages, they started life in the 1920s as the product of a unique collaboration between author A. A. Milne and illustrator E. H. Shepard. They wove images and text together in a way that was utterly original for the time. It was a process that Shepard relished; he continued to create artwork for new editions until his death in 1976 at the age of ninety-six. This lovingly designed, full-color volume, which includes a foreword from Shepard’s granddaughter, tells the story behind this remarkable partnership, and traces the evolution of Shepard’s work, from his first tentative sketches to the illustrations we know and love, including the characters’ later incarnations by the artists at Walt Disney Studios. A stunning and rare collection, filled with some never-before-published sketches and the first illustration of Pooh, The Art of Winnie-the-Pooh is a treasure trove of early art and an exclusive behind-the-scenes peek at the creation of Pooh bear and Hundred Acre Wood—direct from the artist’s estate—that is sure to become a cherished keepsake for devoted fans and readers who grew up with these timeless characters.

How E. H. Shepard Illustrated an Icon

The Art of Winnie-the-Pooh

Patrick Leigh Fermor

Violins of Saint-Jacques

A highly pictorial look at the end of Roman Britain, the early kings, the Viking invasions, and the end of Anglo-Saxon England.

Ken Bruen

Paul Krueger

Richard Godwin

Bill Crider

Joseph Goodrich

B. V. Lawson

Suzanne Lummis

Cullen, Cullen Gallagher, Jeff Wong and Lou Boxer

NoirCon and Out of the Gutter bring you 23 thrilling, unrestrained stories and poems of 21st century desperation and destitution. These tales are sure to shake you out of your complacency, warp your mind and remind you that you, too, are doomed. No one is safe from the Noir Riot! Authors include Ken Bruen, James Campbell, Bill Crider, Thomas A. Crowell, Richard Godwin and many more! Sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying, Noir Riot is the companion to, and official publication of, Noir Con, the premier East Coast crime fiction conference.

Presented by NoirCon and Out of the Gutter

Noir Riot

'An enthralling and compulsively readable memoir: James Campbell is a marvelously charming teller of his improbable progress from high school dropout to literary critic and intellectual. There is no resisting the humour and modesty, the humanity and tenderness of his vivid account' - Phillip Lopate, author of To Show and to Tell: The Craft of Literary Nonfiction 'So here I am to say what for many years I have wanted to say: that not only did I admire your book on James Baldwin extravagantly when I read it upon publication, it is one of those books that have remained alive in my heart and mind ever since . . . and you know how rare that is!' - Vivian Gornick, author of Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader 'Baldwin's best biographer' - New York Times Book Review 'When I first met Baldwin, he referred me to James Campbell as the man to talk to if I wished to know more about his life and work' - Caryl Phillips The story begins with Campbell, aged 14, in a police cell in Glasgow. He’s been charged with stealing books – five Mickey Spillane novels and a copy of Peyton Place. At 15, he became an apprentice printer, but gave that up in order to ‘go on the road’, fulfilling the only ambition he ever had while a pupil at King’s Park Secondary School in Glasgow – to be what RLS called ‘a bit of a vagabond’. On his hitchhiking journeys through Asia and North Africa, an interest in music, reading and writing grew. Campbell also took a keen interest in learning from interesting people. In 1972 he worked on a kibbutz, living in the neighbouring cabin to Peter Green, the founder and lead guitarist of Fleetwood Mac, with whom he formed a two-man musical combo. At the same time, he was part of a group of aspiring writers in Glasgow, including Tom Leonard. His literary heroes of the time were Alexander Trocchi and John Fowles: Campbell tracked them down to their homes and wrote extensively about both. The stories Campbell are recounted in this book. A crowning moment of his life was forming a friendship with the American writer James Baldwin. Campbell visited him more than once at his home in the South of France, and persuaded him to come to Edinburgh for the Book Festival in 1985. Campbell later wrote the acclaimed biography of Baldwin, Talking at the Gates.

A Memoir of Trouble and Travel

Just Go Down to the Road

Uncover the ridiculously funny life of teachers (and some things that have nothing to do with teachers but are still splendidly funny) according to James Campbell, comedian extraordinaire. Ever wondered what teachers do when they're not in the classroom? Are they undercover detectives, champion roller-blade dancers or do they spend their evenings playing with their 576 cats?This face-achingly funny book will also teach you why you should carry an emergency banana with you at all times, how to fart in class silently without anyone knowing it was you and how to catapult yourself to school by building a medieval style catapult in your back garden! Whether you love or loathe your teachers, want to become one when you grow up or don't give two figs about your teacher but simply love a HILARIOUS read, this book is for you. Prepare to roll around the floor laughing with the snot-inducingly brilliant The Funny Life of Teachers.But be warned - this is NOT a normal book. You can read it forwards, backwards, sideways and in approximately 861,000 different ways in between. Whichever way you read it, look no further for fantastic real-life teacher facts, incredibly funny illustrations, imaginary stories and an impossibly silly read!

The Funny Life of Teachers

In New York in 1944, Campbell finds the leading members of what was to become the Beat Generation in the shadows of madness and criminality. Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs had each seen the insides of a mental hospital and a prison by the age of 30. This book charts the transformation of these experiences into literature, and a literary movement that spread across the globe. 35 photos.

New York San Francisco Paris

This Is the Beat Generation

Lying due north of Australia, New Guinea is among the world’s largest islands. In 1942, when World War II exploded onto its shores, it was an inhospitable, cursorily mapped, disease-ridden land of dense jungle, towering mountain peaks, deep valleys, and fetid swamps. Coveted by the Japanese for its strategic position, New Guinea became the site of one of the South Pacific’s most savage campaigns. Despite their lack of jungle training, the 32nd Division’s Ghost Mountain Boys were assigned the most grueling mission of the entire Pacific campaign: to march 130 miles over the rugged Owen Stanley Mountains and to protect the right flank of the Australian army as they fought to push the Japanese back to the village of Buna on New Guinea’s north coast. Comprised of National Guardsmen from Michigan and Wisconsin, reserve officers, and draftees from across the country, the 32nd Division lacked more than training—they were without even the basics necessary for survival. The men were not issued the specialized clothing that later became standard issue for soldiers fighting in the South Pacific; they fought in hastily dyed combat fatigues that bled in the intense humidity and left them with festering sores. They waded through brush and vines without the aid of machetes. They did not have insect repellent. Without waterproof containers, their matches were useless and the quinine and vitamin pills they carried, as well as salt and chlorination tablets, crumbled in their pockets. Exhausted and pushed to the brink of human endurance, the Ghost Mountain Boys fell victim to malnutrition and disease. Forty-two days after they set out, they arrived two miles south of Buna, nearly shattered by the experience. Arrival in Buna provided no respite. The 32nd Division was ordered to launch an immediate assault on the Japanese position. After two months of furious—sometimes hand-to-hand—combat, the decimated division finally achieved victory. The ferocity of the struggle for Buna was summed up in Time magazine on December 28, 1942, three weeks before the Japanese army was defeated: “Nowhere in the world today are American soldiers engaged in fighting so desperate, so merciless, so bitter, or so bloody.” Reminiscent of classics like Band of Brothers and The Things They Carried, this harrowing portrait of a largely overlooked campaign is part war diary, part extreme adventure tale, and (through letters, journals, and interviews) part biography of a group of men who fought to survive in an environment every bit as fierce as the enemy they faced.

Their Epic March and the Terrifying Battle for New Guinea--The Forgotten War of the South Pacific

The Ghost Mountain Boys

This is the first book to explore the English-language literary scene in Paris after World War II, including the intersecting lives of Richard Wright, Samuel Beckett, James Baldwin, and Maurice Girodias.

Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Samuel Beckett, and Others on the Left Bank

Exiled in Paris

An intimate portrait of Baldwin's mythic life. James Baldwin was one of the most incisive and influential American writers of the twentieth century. Active in the civil rights movement and open about his homosexuality, Baldwin was celebrated for eloquent analyses of social unrest in his essays and for daring portrayals of sexuality and interracial relationships in his fiction. By the time of his death in 1987, both his fiction and nonfiction works had achieved the status of modern classics. James Campbell knew James Baldwin for the last ten years of Baldwin's life. For Talking at the Gates, Campbell interviewed many of Baldwin's friends and professional associates and examined several hundred pages of correspondence. Campbell was the first biographer to obtain access to the large file that the FBI and other agencies had compiled on the writer. Examining Baldwin's turbulent relationships with Norman Mailer, Richard Wright, Marlon Brando, Martin Luther King Jr., and others, this candid and original account portrays the life and work of a writer who held to the principle that "the unexamined life is not worth living." This new edition features a fresh introduction addressing recent developments in Baldwin’s reputation and his return to a position he occupied in the early 1960s, when Life magazine called him "the monarch of the current literary jungle." It also contains a previously unpublished interview with Norman Mailer about Baldwin, which Campbell conducted in 1987.

A Life of James Baldwin

Talking at the Gates

James Campbell combines the understanding of a good social historian with an ability to analyse literary achievement in a narrative that has the same sort of interest as a novel' Guardian'When on August 25, 1944 the Allied forces marched into Paris and freed the city from Nazi occupation, they prepared the way for another invasion - a new wave of writers.Taking Richard Wright's arrival in Paris as his starting point, James Campbell has produced a riveting account of this post-war period in Paris Interzone' Time Out

Richard Wright, Lolita, Boris Vian and Others on the Left Bank, 1946-60

Paris Interzone

A. C. Grayling

Peter Cox

Nick Clegg

Ian Donaldson

Patrick Derham

With origins as far back as the 14th Century, Westminster School is one of the oldest in the country with a long tradition of scholarship - and outstanding results, both in academic and public life.

Brief Lives of Westminster School

Loyal Dissent

This book reads Oscar Wilde as a queer theorist and Wilfred Owen as his symbolic son. It centers on the concept of 'male procreation', or the generation of new ideas through an erotic but non-physical connection between two men, and it sees Owen as both a product and a continuation of this Wildean tradition.

Begotten, Not Made

Oscar Wilde, Wilfred Owen, and Male Desire

Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs had all seen the inside of mental hospitals and prisons by the age of 30. This book charts the transformation of these experiences into a literary movement that spread across the globe in the decade and a half that followed World War II.

New York, San Francisco, Paris

This is the Beat Generation

Afraid of the Old Ones are you? The knowledge in this book will lead to madness on a personal level. If you are under 18 or are mentally ill, you should not read or practice the magic of this book. This book will make the Necronomicon look like a bedtime story.

De Vermis Mysteriis - Third Edition

James Campbell's work on the Anglo-Saxons is recognised as being some of the most original of recent writing on the period; it is brought together in this collection, which is both an important contribution to Anglo-Saxon studies in itself and also a pointer to the direction of future research.

Catherine Stevens

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