Alaska Books

Sweet Stew is a wonderful book which shows a time in motherhood that we would all like to return to.

A fine quality art book to be enjoyed by all the family. A must have!

This concludes the 134-year history of the U.S. government's relationships with Alaska's native peoples, begun in Mitchell's first book Sold American. The political history of Alaska is an eye-opening story which should be read by any with more than a casual interest in the state: this focuses on Congress' settlement of Alaska native land claims from 1960-71, providing plenty of detail unavailable elsewhere.

A Wrangell Thlinget Indian Legend about a young man named Na-chee-soo-nay ~ as told to the Author, who worked from 1938 to 1942 for the Forest Service repairing & restoring the 'old totem poles'

This book is full of interesting information about the customs and traditions of all the different Eskimo tribes. The bulk of the book is a compilation of stories collected from the oral traditions of the Eskimos. It is clear and well-written. I recommend this book to anyone interested in these native peoples.

I have read this book and I must say that this is a very funny and well written book about life onboard a ship such as that. The book keeps you wanting to know more of what's going to happen next. The pranks are funny and although some may find them just a bit mean, they are not really bad and really doesn't harm anyone. I would recommend this book to anybody that loves wit and humor.

I read this when it first came out and absolutely loved it! A trip with the Andersons is like a visit with old friends. This book is a must for anyone traveling to Alaska by car or RV and a delightful addition to any armchair traveler's collection. Descriptions of scenery are vivid but the interactions with the people the Andersons meet are lively. Perhaps the dialogue, which covers everything from purchases from clerks to other camper's tales of glory and woe, is the most appealing feature of the book. Parts of it make me laugh so hard I have to put the book down for a bit. I reread this book a couple of times a year. If you enjoy this you may also want to read Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" and "The Lost Continent"; Emily Kimbrough and Cornelia Otis Skinner's "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay" and another older book of William C. Anderson's called "Home Sweet Home Has Wheels, or Please Don't Tailgate the Real Estate."

Tanana and Chandalar: The Alaska Field Journals of Robert A. McKennan presents the original field journals of expert Alaskan ethnographer Robert A. McKennan (1903-1982) who spent the years between 1929 and 1933 in remote Native American villages and documented Interior Athabaskan life. Annotated by anthropology experts Craig Mishler and William Simeone, and supplemented with contextual material and two introductory chapters, Tanana and Chandalar is a highly readable insight into McKennan's struggles to survive in the Alaskan wilderness, the personal frustration he experienced as an anthropologist, the field methods he used, and the difficulties that challenged him while conducting research. Part methodical manual, part personal insight, part scientific journal and entirely fascinating, Tanana and Chandalar is highly recommended especially for anthropology students, teachers and practitioners.

Told by Anatole Bogeyaktuk and Charlies Steve; with interviews by Roseanna Dan Waghiyi and Mary Alexander Wondzell; transcribed and translated by Sophie Shield with Marie Meade; and edited by Ann Fienup-Riordan, Taprarmiuni Kassiyulritt: Stebbins Dance Festival pre-sents the complex rituals of the dance festival as practiced by Yup'ik Native Americans, from the perspective of two of the last generation of Yup'ik men to be raised in the qasgi, or communal men's house. Presented in both the Yup'ik and English languages side by side, and enhanced with black-and-white photography, Taprarmiuni Kassiyulritt is a treasure that showcases and helps preserve vital elements of Yup'ik culture, daily life and spirituality, from competitive gift-giving to feasting, feats of strength, and especially dance.

I didn't know about this small press Alaskan book (Vanessapress, Fairbanks, 2001), until the author befriended me on Goodreads. Turns out Jones is a well-respected scholar of Aleut culture and was a professor at University of Alaska (now retired). I got the neglected book, read it, and was astounded. Should have read it before (especially since my novel -set in a contemporary Native Alaskan village and with a woman protagonist - tries to do many things that Jones' book already accomplished so well). It should become a classic. It is so perfect; "Tatiana" is a beautiful, true, stark, authentic, unsentimental, vital, compassionate and tragic epic novel of an Aleut woman survivor of modern times, which deserves a wide readership - as much as A Thousand Splendid Suns or other tales with backdrops of culture clash and the destruction of ancient cultures - and women - by colonization and war. The people of the Aleutian Islands are Americans, but few in the USA know what they have faced, from enslavement, to epidemics, starvation and coerced cultural change, to internment and abandonment in World War II. Yet the people survived, as does the main character, Tatiana. Jones is a far better stylist and natural storyteller than most better-known novelists. And clearly a erudite scholar with a great depth of knowledge of Aleut culture both ancient and contemporary (but that is the fate of books by tiny presses; they don't get many readers). I was deeply moved by Jones' story, a work of love and respect for the people who survive now in spite of all their wounding, and a paean to the Aleut old ways.
~ by Lesley Thomas, author of Flight of the Goose