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//-->GRANDMAGATEWOOD'SWalkTHEINSPIRING STORYOF THE WOMANWHO SAVED THEAPPALACHIAN TRAILBEN MONTGOMERYPulitzer Prize Finalist$26.95 (CAN $31.95)Emma GatEwood told hEr family shE wasgoing on a walk and left her small Ohio hometownwith a change of clothes and less than two hun-dred dollars. The next anybody heard from her,this genteel, farm-reared, 67-year-old great-grand-mother had walked 800 miles along the 2,050-mileAppalachian Trail. And in September 1955, havingsurvived a rattlesnake strike, two hurricanes, and arun-in with gangsters from Harlem, she stood atopMaine’s Mount Katahdin. There she sang the firstverse of “America, the Beautiful” and proclaimed,“I said I’d do it, and I’ve done it.”Grandma Gatewood, as the reporters calledher, became the first woman to hike the entireAppalachian Trail alone, as well as the first person—man or woman—to walk it twice and three times.Gatewood became a hiking celebrity and appearedon TV and in the pages ofSports Illustrated.Thepublic attention she brought to the little-knownfootpath was unprecedented. Her vocal criticism ofthe lousy, difficult stretches led to bolstered mainte-nance, and very likely saved the trail from extinction.Author Ben Montgomery was given unprece-dented access to Gatewood’s own diaries, trail jour-nals, and correspondence, and interviewed survivingfamily members and those she met along her hike, allto answer the question so many asked: Why did shedo it? The story of Grandma Gatewood will inspirereaders of all ages by illustrating the full power ofhuman spirit and determination. Even those whoknow of Gatewood don’t know the full story—a storyof triumph from pain, rebellion from brutality, hopefrom suffering.Advanced Praise forGrandma Gatewood’s Walk“Just as Emma Gatewood helped save the Appalachian Trail fromyears of neglect and preserve it for generations of hikers, Ben Mont-gomery has kept her unbelievable story alive for anyone who loves theoutdoors, underdogs, heroic women, and amazing tales. I wish I’d readit while standing on top of a mountain, but I almost felt as if I was.”—Thomas Mullen, author ofThe Last Town on Earth“InGrandma Gatewood’s Walk,a storyteller’s storyteller digs deepinto the long-forgotten tale of an inspiring journey, bringing fortha transcendent story of dignity, independence, and the dynamichuman spirit.”—Michael Brick, author ofSaving the School“With rich reporting and often poetic prose, Ben Montgomery takesreaders on an intimate, backwoods adventure with a resolute oldlady. Along the way, he explores the history of hikers and highways,the solace of nature and solitude—and the urge to escape.”—Lane DeGregory, journalist, winner of the2009 Pulitzer Prize for Feature WritingGRANDMAGATEWOOD'SWalkThe Inspiring Story of the WomanWho Saved the Appalachian TrailBEN MONTGOMERY [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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