Bøker av Bill Carter

From a first-rate writer in the fascinating tradition of Junger and Krakauer (Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall), a sweeping account of civilizations complete dependence on copper and what it all means for people, nature, and the global economy.A SWEEPING ACCOUNT OF CIVILIZATIONS COMPLETE DEPENDENCE ON COPPER AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR PEOPLE, NATURE, AND OUR GLOBAL ECONOMY COPPER is a miraculous and contradictory metal, essential to nearly every human enterprise. For most of recorded history, this remarkably pliable and sturdy substance has proven invaluable: not only did the ancient Romans build their empire on mining copper but Christopher Columbus protected his ships from rot by lining their hulls with it. Today, the metal can be found in every house, car, airplane, cell phone, computer, and home appliance the world over, including in all the new, so-called green technologies. Yet the history of copper extraction and our present relationship with the metal are fraught with profound difficulties. Copper mining causes irrevocable damage to the Earth, releasing arsenic, cyanide, sulfuric acid, and other deadly pollutants into the air and water. And the mines themselves have significant effects on the economies and wellbeing of the communities where they are located. With Red Summer and Fools Rush In, Bill Carter has earned a reputation as an on-the-ground journalist adept at connecting the local elements of a story to its largest consequences. Carter does this againand brilliantlyin Boom, Bust, Boom, exploring in an entertaining and fact-rich narrative the very human dimension of copper extraction and the colossal implications the industry has for every one of us. Starting in his own backyard in the old mining town of Bisbee, Arizonawhere he discovers that the dirt in his garden contains double the acceptable level of arsenicBill Carter follows the story of copper to the controversial Grasberg copper mine in Indonesia; to the ring at the London Metal Exchange, where a select group of traders buy and sell enormous amounts of the metal; and to an Alaskan salmon run threatened by mining. Boom, Bust, Boom is a highly readable accountpart social history, part mining-town exploration, and part environmental investigation. Page by page, Carter blends the personal and the international in a narrative that helps us understand the paradoxical relationship we have with a substance whose necessity to civilization costs the environment and the people who mine it dearly. The result is a work of first-rate journalism that fascinates on every level.

A vivid, unforgettable account of the danger, pain, and joy of working on a salmon fishing boat and living in a small village on the farthest edge of Alaska Set in the tiny Native village of Egegik on the shores of Alaska's Bristol Bay, Bill Carter's Red Summer is the thrilling story of one man's journey from novice to seasoned fisherman over the course of four beautiful, brutal summers in one of the earth's few remaining wild places. As millions of salmon race toward their annual spawning grounds, Carter learns the ancient, backbreaking trade of the set net fisherman, one of the most exhilarating and dangerous jobs in the world. Housed in a dilapidated shack with no hot water and boarded-up windows that keep the bears at bay, Carter spends his days battling the elements on the river and his nights drinking whiskey with a memorable group of hardworking, hard-living characters. There's Sharon, the tough, charismatic woman who runs Carter's fishing crew; Carl, her stoic but warmhearted colleague; and a half-dozen local fishermen, many born and raised in this unforgiving place. Their stories -- harrowing, touching, full of humor -- all underscore the credo of the village's fishermen: Do the work or leave. Carter's crew is imperiled a number of times as tides rise, nets are snagged, and the weight of too many fish threatens to sink their boat. Written with gusto and honesty, Red Summer brims with astonishing human experience and joins the grand tradition of books written by great American outdoorsmen-writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Edward Abbey, Peter Matthiessen, and Sebastian Junger. Red Summer will appeal not only to fishermen, naturalists, adventurers, and armchair anthropologists alike but also to anyone who has ever yearned, however privately, to escape the bonds of modern civilization.

While you may never meet Bill in person, you will get to know this man and want to know more about him as you turn the pages of his memoir.Here is an excerpt from Chapter 1:"There were no church bells ringing, no celebrations on that cold, winter day, December 11, 1929. It was just another day in the little community of Eagleton, Arkansas, which is near the town of Mena. Though located in one of the prettiest places on earth, Southwestern Arkansas, my family was more concerned with finding food and shelter for their family. There were already five children; I was the sixth child and another mouth to feed. Three more would follow in the next few years. I was named William Franklin Carter after my mother's father." "Mama and Daddy raised us nine kids with a cook stove that had to have wood cut for it. We lived off the land, raised our own food and if we went to town, it was the team and wagon that took us there.""It brings back such memories, for this was the life of the Carter family.""There has always been a song in my spirit. When I was nine years old, I was riding in the back seat of my teacher's car where we all lived in Loneoak, Arkansas. I suddenly began to sing 'A Pocket Full of Dreams.'""My teacher said, 'William, I cannot believe what my ears are hearing; you are a very good singer for a nine-year-old kid; I'm going to get you on the radio in Little Rock. Sure enough, she kept her word.""That lady teacher made arrangements for me to go to Little Rock the following Saturday to sing in a talent show on radio station KGHI. We arrived at Radio Station in Little Rock where I sang, "A Pocket Full of Dreams." A little kid from a poor family would identify with a song like that.""My imagination was at work as the broadcast took place. This was a small step in the right direction for a little guy who usually went barefoot in the summertime and was often seen with only one strap of my overalls up.""I have been asked the question many times as to when I started singing; that was the beginning of a career in singing that has spanned all these years.""I somehow felt that one day that would be my life…and it was."In Bill's memoir, he tells of rubbing elbows with other rising country music stars that reached the pinnacle of success. And finally, the dream of singing at the Grand Ole' Opry came true and a record label with MGM, the coveted title he had sought.But God had other plans for Bill's life...His story is a beauty of a testimony of God's great love for the soul of a man, as his open and honest memoir tells his journey through the pits of hell to the Kingdom of God.He takes the reader through a journey of many roads traveled with his home-spun style of telling his story which makes you ask for more and at times brings laughter to your soul.Within the pages of Bill's book, you will find the impact of one man - one story at a time as Bill takes you back in time, to a much simpler, faith-filled way of living.Enjoy taking the journey through Bill's life with him. It is a story you will not forget!