Description: This aptly named book contains 22 selections by John Muir, John McPhee, Barry Lopez, and others on Alaska and to some extent on the neighboring Yukon, accompanied by a small but evocative collection of photographs of Eskimos. The pieces, most of which are top-notch, vividly describe the harsh climate, the Arctic and sub-Arctic habitats, and the animals of Alaska, and tell the stories of the Native Americans and others who have made their home or worked in the North. This excellent sampler of some of the best writing on Alaska is recommended for academic and, especially, public libraries.
Review Quotes: "The editors have selected a fine group of representative essays that achieve the stated goal of forming 'an effective and accurate portrait of Alaska in the post-frontier era'. . . . All the essays are polished and delightful." --Journal of the West
"This is an attractive and readable book with some important new essays and others not readily obtainable." --Alaska History "This fine anthology offers readers some of the best nature writing from the last frontier over the last 110 years . . . an outstanding anthology of twenty-two essays that will be of great interest to all lovers of the literature of the far north." --Bloomsbury Review "This aptly named book contains 22 selections by John Muir, John McPhee, Barry Lopez, and others on Alaska and to some extent on the neighboring Yukon, accompanied by a small but evocative collection of photographs of Eskimos. The pieces, most of which are top-notch, vividly describe the harsh climate, the Arctic and sub-Arctic habitats, and the animals of Alaska, and tell the stories of the Native Americans and others who have made their home or worked in the North. This excellent sampler of some of the best writing on Alaska is recommended for academic and, especially, public libraries." --Library Journal "A rich, robust taste of our literary culture that leaves no suggestion of impoverishment." --We Alaskans