Who is the main subject in the memoir, Guts?

Gary Paulsen is a writer, a military veteran, and an adventurer. Paulsen is best known for his Brian novels, including Hatchet. Paulsen is a realist who intends that everything he writes about in fiction should have grounding in reality so that readers who may find themselves in serious situations will have some knowledge to draw upon, and so that readers in general will have a better and realistic understanding of things like hunting and survival.

Paulsen’s true-life experiences form the bulk of the book, and Paulsen demonstrates how these experiences directly translated into his novels.