The Fishes & Dishes Cookbook, by Kiyo Marsh, Tomi Marsh, and Laura Cooper

Fishes & Dishes book cover

Some of the most dangerous work in the world takes place in the grounds of Alaska, where crews must deal with gale-force winds, towering seas, long hours, and… Baked Salmon Wellington? A generation ago, the women featured in this book might have been celebrated as pioneers. In today’s world, they are simply living their dreams…

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Yukon Quest, by Lew Freedman

Over beer and hamburgers at the Two Rivers Lodge near Fairbanks, Alaska, a small group of mushers conceived a gutsy idea for a new sled dog race that would be more challenging than any other marathon race in the Far North. In 1984, mushers organized the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race between Fairbanks and…

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Moonlight Madness, by Samme Gallaher

Samme Gallaher offers a lively collection of stories about haunted roadhouses, bizarre animal behavior, weird weather, frontier justice, an unwitting “good time girl,” and an assortment of characters who inhabited Alaska’s remote Copper River Valley between the Klondike Gold Rush and World War II. Moonlight Madness (128 pages) will leave you with chills, and not…

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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…

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Surviving 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…

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Alaska 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…

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Saving 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.…

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Moments 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…

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Boom 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.…

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Tales 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,…

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