A story of friendship, encouragement, and the quest to design a better world
A Man Apart is the story-part family memoir and part biography-of Peter Forbes and Helen Whybrow's longtime friendship with Bill Coperthwaite (A Handmade Life), whose unusual life and fierce ideals helped them examine and understand their own.
Coperthwaite inspired many by living close to nature and in opposition to contemporary society, and was often compared to Henry David Thoreau. Much like Helen and Scott Nearing, who were his friends and mentors, Coperthwaite led a 55-year-long "experiment in living" on a remote stretch of Maine coast. There he created a homestead of wooden, multistoried yurts, a form of architecture for which he was known around the world.
Coperthwaite also embodied a philosophy that he called "democratic living," which was about empowering all people to have agency over their lives in order to create a better community. The central question of Coperthwaite's life was, "How can I live according to what I believe?"
In this intimate and honest account-framed by Coperthwaite's sudden death and brought alive through the month-long adventure of building with him what would turn out to be his last yurt-Forbes and Whybrow explore the timeless lessons of Coperthwaite's experiment in intentional living and self-reliance. They also reveal an important story about the power and complexities of mentorship: the opening of one's life to someone else to learn together, and carrying on in that person's physical absence.
While mourning Coperthwaite's death and coming to understand the real meaning of his life and how it endures through their own, Forbes and Whybrow craft a story that reveals why it's important to seek direct experience, to be drawn to beauty and simplicity, to create rather than critique, and to encourage others. "William Coperthwaite was a man of vision and integrity, as well as a personal inspiration to Peter Forbes and Helen Whybrow. His desire to live simply led him to a remote stretch of the Maine shore, where Coperthwaite's commitment to carving wooden bowls and building elegant yurts created human elegance answering to the beauty of his surroundings. Forbes's luminous photographs evoke this aspect of his achievement. Exceptional integrity can sometimes feel rigid or bruising to those whom it also attracts, however. As Emerson once wrote about Coperthwaite's predecessor Thoreau, "I'd sooner take an elm tree by the arm." A great achievement of Forbes and Whybrow in A Man Apart is to convey the complexity of this strong-minded life fully and honestly. Such an approach makes their reflections on love, struggle, and grief all the more powerful."-John Elder, author of Reading the Mountains of Home
"This is a terrific book, honestly drafted and beautifully wrought. As it is with yurts, so it is with communities and with books―their lasting strength comes from the integrity of their parts and the genius of their joinery. Deep gratitude to Peter Forbes and Helen Whybrow for their work of grace and love."-Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Wild Comfort
"What a rare and important offering. Peter and Helen have given us a deeply honest portrait of a man. We are invited to witness him from above, from beneath, from the side, from within, in his light, in his darkness. This story is about building one last yurt without knowing it's the last; it's about how one solitary man's ethic influenced the lives of many; it's about the complexity, joy, and frustration of friendship. Bill Coperthwaite once said, 'Bite off less than you can chew.' He was right! This book calls out to those of us seeking connection in our modern era. A Man Apart left me with the exquisite sense of having traveled somewhere and been transformed because of it."-Molly Caro May, author of The Map of Enough: One Woman's Search for Place
"In this remarkable and deeply moving book,
