Untamed: The Wildest Woman in America and the Fight for Cumberland Island

by Will Harlan

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Carol Ruckdeschel is the wildest woman in America. She wrestles alligators, eats roadkill, rides horses bareback, and lives in a ramshackle cabin that she built by hand in an island wilderness. A combination of Henry David Thoreau and Jane Goodall, Carol is a self-taught scientist who has become a tireless defender of sea turtles on Cumberland Island, a national park off the coast of Georgia.

Cumberland, the country's largest and most biologically diverse barrier island, is celebrated for its windswept dunes and feral horses. Steel magnate Thomas Carnegie once owned much of the island, and in recent years, Carnegie heirs and the National Park Service have clashed with Carol over the island's future. What happens when a dirt-poor naturalist with only a high school diploma becomes an outspoken advocate on a celebrated but divisive island? Untamed is the story of an American original standing her ground and fighting for what she believes in, no matter the cost.

  • ISBN10 0802122582
  • ISBN13 9780802122582
  • Publish Date 6 May 2014
  • Publish Status Out of Print
  • Out of Print 8 February 2021
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 320
  • Language English