The Survivalist tells the life story of author Larry Hager. In 1939, his family moved from Kansas to Idaho, and then to Oregon. Twelve years later they moved to a small logging community in southern Oregon and a whole new life for a little farm boy.

Larry encountered a lot of interesting moments as a young man that he would have been far better off avoiding. Eventually, he wound up in the penitentiary as a result of one of these incidents. At first, however, he did not take his incarceration seriously. When he finally realized how serious the situation was, he started doing things with...