Alaska Books

My Heart on the Yukon River is more than a collection of black and white portraits of people who live in remote places: It's the story of a woman who knew what she wanted out of life and had the courage to go after it.... In nearly every photograph, people are leaughing or smiling. No one seems to be taking themselves too seriously. Yet, Dykstra affords each person a sense of dignity. In one photograph of a woman, Suzanne Picot from Whitehorse, she poses in front of her car- painted to look like a car. Picot, who reveals in her interview that she's in love with a man who grew up on a dairy farm, is dressed like a dairy cow. She wears a black and white spotted jump suit, complete with rubber udders, horns and a cowbell necklace. Oddly, she doesn't look ridiculous. She just looks happy. For 2,000 miles, Dykstra remains optimistic and never stoops to exploit poverty, lonliness or human tragedy.... Dykstra's images are visually interesting and her text is a pleaure to read.... My Heart on the Yukon River is a a carefree romp- a lighthearted journal of a road trip Lorrie Blair for Hour Magazine

The story is exciting,the suspects are hard to decide on,and the end result is great.It's an interesting,funny,suspenseful mystery - enjoy!

The Volume 23, Number 2, Quarterly, 1996 Alaska Geographic issue, Native Cultures In Alaska offers an informed and informative introduction into the daily life of modern-day Native Americans of Alaska. Full-color photographs and a variety of vignettes and anecdotes about tribes such as the Aleuts, Yup'ik, Tsimshian, and more make Native Cultures In Alaska an engaging tribute and fascinating wealth of insight into enduring cultures and traditions that would enhance any personal, school, or community library Native American Studies collection.

What a shame that this book is out of print! I bought a used copy on Amazon, expecting that it would be an introductory cultural anthropology textbook. Instead, it is really a guide book with a focus on cultural tourism, and an extremely good one. It is highly readable, both well-written and also well-printed on high quality paper, and includes some valuable details that my standard guidebook omitted. If I only take one guide book with me on my upcoming Inner Passage tour, this will be the one.

In this highly readable book, Rita O'Clair and her co-authors explore the geology, habitats, and animals of Southeast Alaska and how they interact with each other. I haven't found any other source that puts the basic story of the region together in this way. For those getting started learning about the area, this book provides a framework to organize future observations and learning. Those who already know some natural history of the area may be surprised by the connections this book helps make and the gaps it fills in.

North of Nowhere is a coming of age story with a twist. What distinguishes it from others of its type is the author's ability as writer. William Reid is a VERY good writer who tells a story in engaging style.

Darren Freeman is 17 years old and heading down a destructive path. The product of an upper middle class family, Darren is a "pot head" who doesn't seem to give a damn about anything but smoking dope and defying or embarrassing his social climbing parents.

Carrie Spears is main "caretaker" of irresponsible, alcoholic parents. At 17, all she can remember is cleaning up vomit and the messes created by the adults in her world. Life has not been pretty or easy for Carrie, and she trusts no one but herself. Life at home and on the streets has hardened her to everything and everyone.

As a last ditch effort to change their outlooks, Darren and Carrie's parents send them to the Grizzly Bear Adventure Outings in the Alaskan wilderness. Camp Counselor Gary Cornwall is a military wannabe who uses shock tactics as a means of bringing rebellious teenagers to heel. He is not a man Darren and Carrie find easy to like or respect, and Cornwall soon finds he's bitten off more than he can chew with these two strong-willed teens. When Darren and Carrie escape the camp and strike out on their own, Cornwall fails to track them down and they are left on their own to survive the Alaskan wilderness.

The tale this author spins is an exciting one, about two fearless teens who work together as a team to survive and finally thrive as human beings. Their respect for each other's strengths and weaknesses is touching and uplifting. Whatever nature throws at them - bears and freezing blizzards, near mortal wounds or icy rivers - these two young people take in stride and face together. Love blooms, but is mutually put on hold because survival is their foremost common goal. From Alaskan natives who befriend them, they discover universal truths that give their lives fuller meaning:
1. Alaska and the world have become a zoo the white man left by accident.
2. The killing of animals is not glorious but a necessity to feed humans. It leaves the hunter sad and shaken.

How Darren and Carrie come to a richer understanding of themselves and the world over time is the beauty of this story. I highly recommend it to all ages.

I love the sea stories told by Mr Higgins. The are funny and full of wisdom.

When viewing the cover of this book and the title, I wasn't expecting much. Well, the first half of this book reminded me almost of being in the same rehlm of "The Last Season" by Eric Blehm and John Krauker's "Into The Wild". A very good excellent read I couldn't put down. The story begins with a young man and his buddy off in a Studebaker to buy a "special bargain" military vehicle in Anchorage Alaska and drive it back. When things don't work out and they don't get the military vehicle, the main character's friend decides to fly home before winter sets in. The man in this story stays in Alaska hoping to still get the military vehicle, and when the deal doesn't pan out, it is already the beginning of October, some would say a bit too late to start his journey back home from Anchorage to Montana. The young man still decides to set out on a very new and undeveloped Alcan Hwy., today known as the Alaskan highway, in his Studebaker. On such a late start, this man goes through a comming winter hell on a virtical steep highway of mud and disaster looming at every turn almost. Harsh winter weather and keeping the Studebaker running was an adventure in itself, besides this lone man comming close to dying of the elements in the Alaskan-Yukon Territory in a vast wildreness. THIS IS A SURVIVAL STORY! THIS STORY IS AN AMAZING JOURNEY! The first half of the book is simply one of the best adventure reads I have come across. The second half is the man finding his old Studebaker that he did the original trip in and his adventure as an older man traveling the highway again in it's modern stage. The second half goes off a bit into his personal accounts of being a born again Christian and the message of Chritianity he leaves to many along the way, but that is also a great story in it's own modern way with the people he meets along the way. This book would make a great movie.

A newly-wed couple arriving in Norther Alaska in 1942 might have perished in a blinding blizzard during their first dog-team trip but for the sixth-sense of their Eskimo musher. Other harrowing experiences included landing in a small plane that had lost one wheel in flight, a close encounter with death in a savage storm on the Bering Sea and being caught aloft in a bush plane during a perilous "white-out" snow storm. But mostly this book is about a decade of hands-on service among the Eskimos in three villages in the land of long summer days and long winter nights - memoirs of heart-ache, joy, humor, friendships and great rewards.
--- from book's back cover

Northern Harbors & Small Ports by harbor master and port director Alan Sorum (Valdez, Alaska) is an informed and informative documentation of the day-to-day operation and long-term maintenance of the harbors of the northern regions of Alaska. Introducing the reader to techniques, maintenance, repair, materials, structures, hazardous materials, utilities, harbor economics, and safety from the knowledgeable perspective of Valdez Alaska's harbor master, Northern Harbors & Small Ports acts as an excellent and reliable reference. A seminal contribution to professional, corporate, and academic library Nautical Studies reference collections, Northern Harbors & Small Ports is confidently recommended to all readers with an interest in harbor-economics, as well as those seeking a greater understanding of all that it means to make their living in harbor-based operations.