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NORTH TO THE FUTURE
The Alaska Story, 1959-2009
by Dermot Cole
Alaska became a state in 1959 after nearly a century of federal rule and domination
by powerful mining, timber, and canned-salmon interests. At last, the people of America's former
territory would direct their own destiny. But would they? In its first 50 years, Alaska's fate
continued to be influenced by outside interests and unexpected events.
With clarity, wit, and appreciation for the contribution of everyday people, journalist and
historian Dermot Cole tells how Alaskans rolled up their sleeves to organize their new state
government and how their dreams and reality often clashed in the decades to come.
"Dermot Cole is a fine story-teller, a match for the old sourdoughs who charmed
audiences with colorful reminisces in the lobby of the historic Nordale Hotel in
Fairbanks during my childhood." --from the foreword by Michael Carey
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SARAH
How a Hockey Mom
Turned Alaska's Political
Establishment Upside Down
by Kaylene Johnson
Sarah Palin, then 39, a hockey mom and former mayor of Wasilla, thought her dream of
making a difference in the male-dominated realm of Alaska politics was over in 2004 when
she clashed with the state chairman of her Republican party.
Yet, the former high school basketball star and one-time TV journalist could not shake
the feeling that she was destined for something bigger. Two years later, she became a
long-shot candidate for governor, promising reform.
Then, fate intervened. Her populist message suddenly became front-page news when a major
political scandal rocked Alaska politics. Alaskans began listening to her. And they
liked what they heard.
Read first chapter NY Times Bestseller
NY Times Bestseller
Paperback edition ($15.95)
HB 1st edition ($19.95)
Audio edition ($19.95)
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SURVIVING THE ISLAND OF GRACE
Life on the Wild Edge of America
by Leslie Leyland Fields
Winner of the Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing
This is a powerfully rendered story of a twenty-year-old newlywed transplanted from New Hampshire to a
remote island in the immense Gulf of Alaska. Here, she must learn to live communally with her new family
in primitive conditions without running water, electricity, or contact with the outside world. Even
more challenging, she enters the dangerous and exhausting world of commercial salmon fishing.
"To deem this solely a memoir of her life spent as the wife of a salmon fisherman on a remote Alaskan
island would be missing the boat, so to speak, for Fields" powerful poetic prose deals with
themes as large as the great outdoors in which she struggles to make her way
and find her place."--Booklist
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Pacific Northwest Booksellers Assn. Award winner
ALASKA BLUES
A Story of Freedom, Risk, and Living Your Dream
by Joe Upton
For seven months, Joe Upton steered his thirty-foot boat, the Doreen, through the open
channels and narrow, twisting passageways of Southeast Alaska, living the life of an itinerant
commercial fisherman far from home. This is his account of that season- the lonely hours at sea
as well as the close community of the fishing fleet; the sudden, violent storms and glorious
days of sun; the difficult, frenzied work and quiet moments of contemplation.
Alaska Blues is a powerful evocation of time and place-of a people and their way of life, and
haunting, beautiful shores that draw them back, season after season.
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Building the Alaska Log Home
Photos & text by
Tom Walker
From discussion of tools and site selection to foundation work and bush cabin
etiquette, this book includes everything you need to build with logs. The detailed drawings and insightful
text in which the author explains every step clearly and concisely take you from standing timber to the
finished home.
"This book on traditional hand-hewn log construction has a warm, friendly text and 192 pages
of full-color photos of work at some amazing home sites." -- Washington Post
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2nd Edition
New epilogue
MOMENTS
RIGHTLY
PLACED
memoir by
Ray Hudson
Along a thousand-mile chain of treeless and windswept islands, Unalaska is perched at the end of
the world, or, as some prefer to say, the beginning. In 1964, Ray Hudson, 22, landed in Unalaska
village with a brand-new college degree, eager to teach. The Aleuts had seen many outsiders who
had come but seldom stayed more than a year.
Yet Hudson was no short-timer. Captivated by Unalaska and the history and traditions of its enduring people,
he stayed. As the years passed-one, then five, ten, then twenty-he was embraced by his Aleut neighbors,
sharing their celebrations and tragedies, teaching their children, exploring their language,
and, much to their surprise, learning their delicate art of grass basketry. Ray Hudson's
intimate memoir weaves together landscape and language, storytelling and silence, ancient mythology
and day-to-day village life. Ultimately he pays homage to the people he came to teach, and who, in
the end, were his teachers.
"One of Alaska's 67 best books"-Alaska Historical Society
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SURVIVING ALASKA
This Book Could Save Your Life
by Mary Ames
You should hope you never face the many life-threatening dangers and just plain annoyances
that journalist, pilot, and outdoorswoman Mary Ames warns about in this how-to-stay-alive reference that
is both useful and entertaining. You'll learn …what to do if you find yourself in the path of an
oncoming avalanche … what to do if your bush pilot keels over at the controls with a heart
attack … how to forge a river without a boat … how to get your frozen car started with its
50 below zero…to name a few Alaska-style hazards.
"In Alaska, survival is all about being prepared. And even then, there's no guarantee."
--from the foreword by Tim Mowry, outdoor editor, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
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ART & ESKIMO POWER
The Life and Times of Alaskan Howard Rock
by Lael Morgan
Alaska Historian of the Year, 1998
The Shaman predicted that Howard Rock would become a great man. He was born in 1911 in a sod igloo
in Point Hope, an ancient Eskimo village in northwest Alaska where the people had hunted whales
and lived off the land and sea for centuries. Instead of becoming a hunter, Howard was to
become an accomplished artist and crusading newspaper editor who championed
the causes of his people.
"Morgan weaves an impressive body of research into an effective novelistic format."--Publishers Weekly.
One of Alaska's 67 best history books-Alaska Historical Society
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SAVING FOR
THE FUTURE
My Life &
the Alaska
Permanent Fund
by Dave Rose as told to Charles Wohlforth
From modest beginnings in Queens, New York, Dave Rose became the first director of the Alaska Permanent
Fund, the multi-billion-dollar savings account created by voters after discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay.
Rose's insider account, as told to award-winning journalist and author Charles Wohlforth, reveals the
inner workings of a unique institution that converts earnings from investment of oil wealth into annual
dividends for every Alaskans.
"This is the warm, funny, and inspiring story of Dave Rose, who followed the American Dream and was living proof
that smarts, courage, and integrity can be found in public service.” --Tony Knowles, Governor of Alaska, 1994-2002
Buy hardbound First Edition
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THE COASTAL
COMPANION
The Inside Passage
Cruise Guide
Joe Upton
Explore the dramatic Northwest coast and the Inside Passage, mile by mile, with veteran traveler
Joe Upton, author of the award-winning "Alaska Blues" and "Journeys Through the Inside Passage."
This is a rail-side guide keyed to a unique milemaker system for easier orientation among these complex
waterways. Included are stories, photographs, and an elaborate fold-out map that is the best available
to cruise ship passengers headed north.
The guide include information about birds, boats, fish and whales, ports, art, and other
features of the Inside Passage, B.C. waters, and Puget Sound.
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COLD CRIME
How Police Detectives Solved Alaska's Most Shocking Cases
Tom Brennan
This is a riveting collection of stories about some of Alaska's high-profile
criminal investigations of the past 50 years. Step by step, the author guides
readers through thirteen notorious cases, drawing details from confidential
case files shared by police detectives who investigate murder, mayhem,
crimes of passion and greed, and an amazing amount of criminal stupidity.
Author Tom Brennan is an editor and columnist for a web-based newspaper in Anchorage.
He broke into journalism on the police beat.
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Other titles
from Tom Brennan:
MURDER AT 40 BELOW
MOOSE DROPPING
& OTHER CRIMES
AGAINST NATURE
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MURDER AT 40 BELOW
True Crime Stories
from Alaska
Tom Brennan
Murder at 40 Below is a collection of stories about ten of Alaska's most notorious murder cases
drawn from interviews with investigators, police files, eyewitness reports, and newspaper archives.
You will be shocked and fascinated by these accounts of failed dreams, schemes that turned
violent, greed, madness, and treachery.
Author Tom Brennan is an editor and columnist for the Anchorage Times who broke into
journalism on the police beat.
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HAUNTED ALASKA
Ghost Stories
from the Far North
Ron Wendt
They are watching us, these ghosts of the North.
They book breakfast, play cards, mine for gold, turn on radios, and play the piano.
A logger sees a ghostly Model T drive through his truck. The smell of tobacco
wafts through a room where no one is smoking
Haunted Alaska is a collection of ghost stories that will make the hair
rise on the back of your neck.
Buy now.
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BIRD GIRL &
THE MAN WHO
FOLLOWED THE SUN
"A wonderful read. Wallis's writing is simple yet rich . . . The story delivers a message of overcoming
hardship, of being true to yourself even when it is the most difficult thing to do."
-West Coast Review of Books
"Wallis's taut, visual prose brings vibrant new life to these ancient stories.
" -Booklist
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RAISING OURSELVES
A Gwich'in Coming of Age Story from the Yukon River
American Book Award, 2003 winner
"A brave and tender memoir about hope and survival…" -Homer (Alaska) News
"Velma tells a kick-ass story of growing up Gwich'in. If you want to know the truth about
being Indian in a white-dominated world, read this book."
-Duncan Sings-Along, author of SPRINTING BACKWARDS
Show me more titles by and
about Alaska's Native People
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