Walking Europe's Last Wilderness

A Journey through the Carpathian Mountains

Nick Thorpe

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Hardback

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English

Yale University
20 March 2025

Mountains; Biodiversity; The natural world, country life & pets; Travel & holiday

An evocative voyage through the Carpathian mountain range and its threatened landscape, peoples, and history

The Carpathian Mountains of Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine are Europe's last true wilderness. A landscape of great spruce and beech forests, grass meadows, and ancient villages, its people contend daily with the elements—as well as Europe's last large carnivores. But this fragile ecosystem is now under threat, from climate change and illegal logging.

Journeying from the banks of the Danube to Transylvania, Nick Thorpe guides us through the history and ecology of the watershed of Europe, between the Black Sea and the Baltic. For a thousand years the Carpathians have been a place of refuge, of identity and belonging, where powerful rulers and dynasties fought to gain control over rich gold seams and the unruly inhabitants of strategic valleys. Today, its inhabitants struggle to protect its vast forest habitat from urban sprawl as well as logging.

Drawing on interviews with shepherds, foresters and loggers, and his four decades of experience in the region, Thorpe sheds light on a neglected part of Europe—where bears, wolves, chamois, and lynxes still roam.

By: Nick Thorpe
Imprint: Yale University
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780300253542
ISBN 10: 0300253540
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 20 March 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Nick Thorpe is central Europe correspondent for BBC Radio and TV and an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. He has written for The Observer, The Guardian, and The Independent and is the author The Danube and The Road Before Me Weeps.

Reviews for Walking Europe's Last Wilderness: A Journey through the Carpathian Mountains

“Nick Thorpe is adventurous, funny, compassionate and wise, your ideal companion for exploring the Carpathians, Europe’s last wilderness.”—Michael Ignatieff, author of On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times -- Michael Ignatieff “The Carpathians are far and away the best kept secret in Europe – and travelling with Thorpe is to be ushered into a magical world.”—Julius Strauss, former war correspondent and owner of Wild Bear Lodge -- Julius Strauss