Man Bites Log: The Unlikely Adventures of a City Guy in the Woods

Five side-splitting years in the life of a big-city journalist who decided to pack it in and head for the simple life in rural Maine. But the simple life turned out to be a complicated business. While his wife homeschooled their two kids on a boulder-strewn farm, Alexander battled firewood poachers, guinea hens, corporate polluters and his own expectations—eventually running for local office.

Alexander had been the executive editor of Variety and was a senior editor at People when he decided...