In the 1960s in graduate school, Joseph Bruchac studied with Grace Paley and met Allen Ginsberg. He went on to earn his PhD and work in Africa, an experience that confirmed his belief that native peoples all over the world possess hard-won knowledge—of humanity's capacity for self-destruction—wisdom set down in their stories and traditions. Now in his sixties, Bruchac is known for keeping these stories alive, through traditional Native American storytelling, original children’s books, fiction, and poetry. Books in his "Keepers of the Earth" series, co-authored with Michael Caduto, have sold millions of copies.

At the End of Ridge Road, a philosophical memoir, brings together the threads of Bruchac's life and reveals the linkage between his interest in native cultures—he is Abenaki—and his views about human dignity and social justice. He begins by asking readers to "take off your watch" and "live time" rather than being ruled by it. He then tells about his childhood in the Adirondacks, the Abenaki heritage of the region, his path from "nature nut" to jock to writer, and his house on Ridge Road. Through these stories, property, and "the circle as a way of seeing."