Posts Tagged ‘Alaska’
North to the Future, 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 Alaska would direct their own destiny. But would they? North to the Future (224 pages) documents the first fifty years, as Alaska’s fate continued to be influenced by…
Read MoreSurviving Alaska, by Mary Ames
One can only hope never to face the many life-threatening dangers and just plain annoyances that journalist, pilot, and outdoorswoman Mary Ames warns about in Surviving Alaska (160 pages), a guide 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…
Read MoreAlaska Blues, by Joe Upton
This is Upton’s award winning account of a commercial fishing season in Southeast Alaska – 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. In this new third edition from Epicenter…
Read MoreSaving for the Future, by David Rose
David Rose became the first director of the Alaska Permanent Fund, playing a crucial role in managing the multi-billion dollar savings account created by voters after the discovery of oil. Saving for the Future (254 pages) is his account of the formative days of the fund and the inner workings of a truly unique institution.…
Read MoreMoments Rightly Placed, 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…
Read MoreBoom Town Boy, by Jack de Yonge
This is the witty, ironic, and deliciously outspoken coming-of-age memoir of Jack de Yonge set in Fairbanks, Alaska–a once thriving little mining town slowly dying in the remote center of the vast territory in 1934. As Jack’s dad liked to say, no matter what direction you went out of town, you soon arrived in Nowhere.…
Read MoreTales of Alaska’s Bush Rat Governor, by Jay Hammond
Jay Hammond’s hilarious, adventure-packed autobiography is filled with candid insights on the independent people and faraway places of our nation’s largest state. “In 1946 Hammond, a Methodist minister’s son from New York State and a Marine pilot during WW II, realized his dream of moving to Alaska. Once there he had many jobs, including trapping,…
Read MoreKay Fanning’s Alaska Story, by Kay Fanning and Katherine Field Stephen
In 1965, Kay Woodruff Field, 38, a newly divorced former debutante once described as the “Grace Kelly of Chicago,” loaded her three children into a Buick station wagon and headed north to start a fresh life in Alaska. Little did she know that she would became the most influential woman in Alaska. Alaska Story (…
Read MoreCold Crime, by Tom Brennan
A collection of stories about some of Alaska’s high-profile criminal investigations of the past half-century. In Cold Crime (192 pages), journalist Tom Brennan walks readers step by step through thirteen notorious cases, drawing details from the confidential files of Alaska police detectives who investigate murder, mayhem, crimes of passion and greed, and an amazing amount…
Read MoreIditarod Dreams, by Lew Freedman and DeeDee Jonrowe
DeeDee Jonrowe loves dogs, and her consuming passion is the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Winter and summer, virtually day and night (even in her dreams!), she and her huskies prepare for the annual race across Alaska. Iditarod Dreams is an absorbing, personal account of a year in the life of this remarkable woman living on the…
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