Alaska’s Artist Jon Van Zyle, by Jon Van Zyle

As a youth, Jon remembers his artistic mother encouraging him and his twin brother to express their creativity. It worked. Both Jon and his twin brother are professional artists: Jon in Alaska and his brother in Hawaii. His love of the outdoors lured Jon to Alaska and the entire 49th State has become his inspiration. …

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Bering Sea Blues, by Joe Upton

This a gripping memoir of a winter season of crab-fishing in the Bering Sea, filled with scary moments, killer ice, dangerous work, and-for the lucky ones-financial rewards. For others, survival was their reward. Just 25, Joe Upton was the youngest guy aboard when the 104-foot Flood Tide pulled out of Seattle in March 1971 headed…

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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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North to Wolf Country, by James Brooks

In a rich, beautifully written memoir, James W. Brooks recalls astonishing adventures of his youth when he lived on the land in the final days of the Territory of Alaska and later became a wildlife biologist and helped write and enforce fish and games laws for the new State of Alaska. North to Wolf Country…

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On the Edge of Nowhere, by James Huntington and Lawrence Elliott

For sheer excitement and adventure, few novels match the true-life story of James Huntington. The son of a white trapper and Indian mother, Huntington learned early to fight for survival in Alaska’s remote Kuskokwim region, where life was hard. Huntington’s mother once walked 1,000 miles in the dead of winter to return to her family.…

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