Alaska Books

I lucked onto this book when it came out in 1998 and have found myself returning to it over and over throughout the years. I can't say that I've ever tired of rereading the same stories. If you want to feel yourself in Alaska, this is one book that takes you there. Great fireside reading!

Fantastic Book! Sherry Simpson's brilliant style and insight mark her as one of the best writers of our time. This book is sure to become a classic that will be read and studied for generations to come. You will enjoy this book on many, many levels. If you don't own a copy of "The Way Winter Comes", buy it now. You won't be disappointed!

Simpson takes the reader on a literary tour of Alaska. From her upbringing here in Juneau to her excursions in the deep Arctic, we are given an open window to peer into some of the mysteries of the many faces of Alaska. Her journalistic past affords her some true objectivity in dealing with controversial topics like wolf trapping.

The Way Winter Comes is one of the best pieces of Alaskan -- or any -- writing I have read in decades. Readers who do not experience this small, precious book may have wasted some portion of their lives. Get it. Get it now.

Calling this book nature writing, or Alaska writing, or wilderness writing is to box it into a space that is too small. This is just damn GOOD writing by someone who knows how to take the reader places without heavy-handedness. In many ways, I find Simpson's essay to be better than the oft-mentioned names like McPhee, Muir, Gutkind, etc.

This is a wonderful book. Now I have so many more ways to use from my "Sourdough Pot"...My Sourdough has been bubbling for a long time, but I was limited on recipes. This is also just a fun book to read.

My poor dogeared, stained copy of this book came to me by way of my dad and brother after their trip to Alaska in 1989. Dad acquired some starter in about 1959 that its guardian said had been going since the days of the 49ers. I know it's been bubbling since then. All Dad made, though, were bread and rubbery pancakes. He, unfortunately, didn't buy a copy for himself, although I'd give anything to have him make another meal of them! You see, that's the magic of sourdough, the romance, the stories, the memories! I've not yet been to Alaska, but Ruth Allman has taken me from Cheechako to Sourdough by generously sharing her recipes and her stories with me. I read this book just for the enjoyment of it sometimes. We had her waffles this morning. I made her Flower Rolls recipe into Danish rolls for my famously fussy father-in-law. What better tribute could I make to this cook and her book than to say that he loved them! My two year old son and I will make a little fire in the woods and bake a sourdough version of bannock in Dad's old Dutch oven this week and make some memories of our own.

Ruth Allman has written an excellent book about Alaskan sourdough history and provided very tasty receipes. As a resident of Kodiak,Alaska I have been lucky enough to get some of Ruth Allmans sourdough starter. I have tried her receipes and all I can say is , wow! San Francisco look out. You get a real sense of the struggle of the pioneers with this book, and the way she describs the receipes, you can just imagine spreading the butter and jam on the bread. My favorite receipe is the hot griddle cakes with fresh strawberries. As Ruth says, the art of mixing the batter with air, and the timing of slopping it on the grill is a skill learned over time. The Baked Alaska with sourdough waffles (which by the way is how it was actually first made) is a dessert from heaven. This is a book that every sourdough making Alaskan owns.

Make the most sublime waffles - crispy outside, creamy inside, and with a flavor that beats anything else. So good that my children want them even as plain unheated leftovers later in the morning.

I found a copy of this cookbook at a local used book store and mixed up a sourdough starter the following day. It was bubbling away the next morning and I can't wait to try it in a few more days...
The directions in this book are simple to follow. The anecdotes and history provided are entertaining. The recipes all sound delicious! I'll be working my way through many of these, starting of course with the sourdough hotcakes and bread. The handwritten format just adds to the charm of the book. If you're interested in learning to make sourdoughs, this book will give you all the information you'll need.

This beautifully illustrated book is written by a collection of authors who have a love affair going with the birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Their writing, each on a different subject is filled with amazement, wonder and love for the area and its birdlife.

On the other side is a whole series of comments about protecting this environment and the thrust for development being urged by the oil companies and the Bush administration. Unfortunately, in the long run, I think that the environmentalists will lose. The 'God given rights' of the people to have inexpensive gasoline for their SUV's leads to power by the voting booth.

The book itself is of large format, printed on a very heavy paper with a printing quality that rivals photographs themselves. It is a beautiful book. There is also a CD included with the book that has recordings of 67 bird boices. This can be played as a single 60 minute recording, or you can select individual tracks of bird species.

Absolutely beautifully done with brilliant colors and well-composed pictures this is a great joy to just look through for all bird lovers or fans of the Arctic Refuge area. But it does not stop there. The writers share their experiences in an excellent educational yet highly readable treatise on their particular subject. Together they introduce the fascinating world of Arctic birds to the reader in a way that is both informative and fun. So, how to you finish off such an excellent book? They added a CD in the back with various bird calls, songs, and peeps. Arctic Wings: Birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is highly recommended and a real joy to have around even just for the pleasure of picking it up once in a while and enjoying the pictures.

If you love: a)nature photography, b)the Arctic, and c)birds - this book is for you. It is over-sized and filled with beautiful colored photographs of birds who come to breed in the Arctic. Plus, there are migration maps and essays telling you how the birds got to the Arctic. And there is a CD with sounds of the Arctic and many of the birds pictured in the book. It is a wonderful feast for the senses.

This gorgeous book on the birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge combines writing by a variety of authors, from birding luminary David Sibley to local Native American residents, with many outstanding photographs. Overall, it provides a considerable amount of information on the bird species appearing in the ANWR and the effects that oil drilling might have on them. While some segments are more gracefully written than others, all are interesting.

Along with the book is a CD of birdsongs and ambient sounds of the region.

Pacific, Central, Mississippi and Atlantic North American Flyways converge on the North Slope of Alaska and Yukon Territory. The area encompasses many ecosystems - river deltas and coastal wetlands, tundra, mountains, boreal forest; inshore waters, barrier islands, beaches and spits and coastal lagoons. Diverse and complex spread over 7.89 million square hectometers (19.5 million ac). The North Slope is a soundshed, viewshed, and the temporary annual residence for at least 194 birds - who visit, but not stay. Some fly almost 29,000 kilometers (18,000 mi), each year, for the round trip. The area is also home to moose, caribou, wolverines, arctic fox, bears and wolves.

US automobile companies and related industries have effectively been on welfare for most of the 20th and the 21st centuries - dependent on "cheap" oil. Perverse subsidies that function as disinvestments threaten to leave the arctic environment and US economy worse off. As pointed out by Hawken, Lovins and Lovins (1999) in Natural Capitalism and von Weizsacker, Lovins and Lovins (1997) in Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use, if you want to cut your costs by one-half or double your profit, then double your efficiency. The North Slope sustainably functions best as wilderness.

Rather than getting close to the Arctic tundra by "sitting behind an internal combustion engine pick up truck in midtown traffic," this is about minimizing human impact on the North Slope by becoming better informed about some of the wild visitors. A CD provides from a few seconds up to 14 minutes (60 minutes of continual play) of the sounds of 67 different birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The large 28 x 28 cm format helps bring the North Slope alive, everything but cool wind in your face and crisp smells wafting off the tundra.

After the introduction, the book is organized according to Loons and Waterfowl; Hawks, Eagles and Falcons; Shorebirds; Gulls, Terns and Jaegers; Owls; Land Birds and Winter Birds. President Jimmy Carter provides the Foreward. Multiple authors and photographers provide Cultural Reflections, Landscape of the Future, After an Arctic Season and Birders in the Scope.

Recognizing there is a direct connection between local birds throughout North America and the North Slope, this reinforces the need for efficiency and use of renewable energy, and brings you one giant step closer to an "aha" moment.

Captain Reece writes an exciting book about a time of "lost" Alaska aviation history. He describes a personal adventure from his time as an entry level forest fire smokejumper, to his rise to Chief Pilot for Alaska International Air's successor, Markair. His book also describes flying in the gritty world of Africa transporting "supplies" into war torn countries for "certain government agencies."

Well written and fast paced, this book was a joy to read, especially for those of us that lived part of it with him...

Guy Goodboe
Former Pilot, Alaska International Air

This book is such a treat, it took me back to my days in Alaska. Well written, loved the humor and by the seat of your pants adventures. A must read!

A great read for anyone interested in aviation, Alaska, and adventure, or any combination of the three! Filled with humor and excitement, a round-the-world journey that any flying enthusiast will enjoy. Highly recommended!

This is one of the best aviation books to come down the line in quite a while. Written with humor and compassion, Flying North South East and West, covers the whole range of aviation from bush flying, worldwide cargo flying, to flying Boeing jets in the north country. It is also a great book about a young couples struggles to start their life in Alaska in the early sixties in an era long gone. It brought many memories of living in Alaska. A must book for anyone interested in aviation of Alaska and worldwide cargo flying.

I also highly recommend The Flying North by Jean Potter, a must for your book shelf.
The Flying North

A fantastic adventure written by a former Smoke Jumper who didn't have a million-dollar budget and a press agent for every aviation feat completed. You'll find yourself white-knuckled while simply flipping the pages of FLYING NORTH, and laughing at the same time as Captain Terry Reece takes you on one harrowing adventure after another. From the wrecked airplane he first bought for $1200, to ferrying men, supplies, even dog teams to the North Slope and the North Pole to hauling "First Aid Supplies, (read weapons) into the war torn Middle East, FLYING NORTH is a true record of civilian aviation heros who toiled and often died living thier dream of flying anything, anywhere at anytime--provided they've got an airplane with two wings, engine and tail, a fifty gallon barrel of fuel, cargo and just a rough idea of thier destination.

Quick read, great reference book (she lists websites and year-round events) and a very funny account of how to live like a real Alaskan (wood cabin with outhouse *in winter*).
I've read a few good Alaska books now and this is a favorite for anyone interested/curious about Alaska living (love the chapter about moose).

I am almost finished reading The Frozen Toe.. and I must say that Brookelyn Bellinger is a wonderful author. Not only is she a wonderful storyteller, but a funny quick witted woman.

Everyone says that we are crazy for wanting to uproot ourselves and move to Alaska, but this book made me feel like I could really do it.

This book made me realize that some people are just called to live in Alaska, and some arent. I hope that our journey will be as fascinating as Brookelyn's..


((and shes very nice too, she answered a quick email question I had about moving.. I almost peed my pants when I saw she replied back! An email from a celeb, who would have thought! haha))

A+++++++++ all the way!

I really enjoyed reading this book, after I returned home from my first trip to Alaska (in the summer, of course). Alaska is spectacular, but many of us harbor romantic ideas about what it is really like to live in the wilderness. This book will absolutely bring you back to earth, with wit and humor, and will educate you on living in lonliness, darkness and cold! A great beach read on a HOT day.

Boy, Brookelyn Bellinger makes being an Alaskan sound like lots of fun.
She also makes Alaskans sound like lots of drunks, but ...
Bellinger's book, "The Frozen Toe Guide to Real Alaska Livin'," is a compendium of anecdotes, how-to information, advice and snarky commentary on living in the 49th State. From its do-it-yourself acknowledgement, which I found quite amusing, to the off-the-cuff introduction ("I figured most people would skip over the introduction - I usually do ...") and beyond, Bellinger throws zingers right and left on subjects as diverse as working in Alaska, dressing in Alaska and not going insane in Alaska.
Bellinger came to Alaska as a 19-year-old Minnesotan dreaming of adventure. She'd long thought she belonged here, she tells us, because it is "... a place where all kinds of oddballs fit in."
But seriously, she actually longed for the independence, adventure, wide-open spaces and "plethora of espresso stands.
Landing here with $200 and a backpack, she managed to find two jobs right off - working at a B&B in exchange for food and a piece of ground on which to pitch a tent, and selling fishing tackle and other "fish-killing" accoutrements.
Bellinger has had quite the gamut of Alaskan experiences, and she's not shy about telling us about them - successes and failures alike. She talks about the time she and her husband took on a homestead caretaking job on Unimak Island for the winter. Sharing excerpts from her diary (with added "If I knew then what I know now" comments), Bellinger carries us through a winter of too much fish, too much wind and not enough beer. She also shares the life lessons learned - if you're going to go for seven months of isolation, choose someplace with trees (for firewood) and "large animals to kill for meat." Her husband, however, would never do it again. "Seven months is a long time to be isolated."
Bellinger picks up a lot of what attracts most of us to this place. The outdoor life, of course - hunting, fishing, dog mushing, road trips to extremely civilization-challenged places - but she also mentions the intangibles as well. The lack of concern over fashion and following trends and keeping warm versus looking good are my favorite part of being Alaskan, although I've yet to go for the extreme (read "formal") Carhartt look Bellinger advocates.
I definitely enjoyed the "Twelve Simple Ways to Look the Part." These rules should be read to all newcomers as they deplane or deboat or de-car, because, frankly, it would make their lives much simpler. Bellinger tells us to lose all our suits, unless we want them for Halloween, and to keep the swimsuit for the PFD vacations to Hawaii. "Showers and clean clothes are overrated;" fur is the best way to stay warm and immediately buy stock in Carhartts.
But Bellinger also celebrates the spirit of Alaska: the ability to fend for oneself in any situation, the breathtaking beauty of the natural surroundings and the challenge of facing (and sometimes) beating Mother Nature at her worst - and her "children." I particularly enjoyed reading about wild animal attacks - especially the killer porcupine. Oh, yeah, she talks about mean moose and biting bears as well.
Inevitably, the "dry cabin" comes up, because, I suppose, most Outsiders think we all live in log cabins with no plumbing. There's advice on that as well, and some prophecy - eventually, you get used to biting cold on your bare cheeks as you dash out to the john in minus-40 weather.
Bellinger's guide to life here in the Frozen North has a bit of a magazine look to it - lots of sidebars and fact boxes, lists of "resources" and recipes tucked here and there. In a couple of places, she throws in a Q&A session with a noted Alaskan. (Conflict of Interest note: I really don't like the Q&A format - seems rather lazy to me. But I digress.)
"The Frozen Toe Guide" is fun to read, an enjoyable way to spend a rainy afternoon in the armchair. Bellinger's style is sarcastic and smart-aleky, with a class-clown tone of voice that makes fun of herself as much as anything else. She writes well, and obviously knows of what she writes.
If I have a complaint, it's that she's not sure what this book is supposed to be - a how-to guide, a tongue-in-cheek memoir or what. The book starts out so jokingly (I mean, really, fill-in-the-blanks acknowledgements, while hilarious, aren't meant to be taken seriously. Are they?), it's hard to pull back into serious mode. And when Bellinger does throw in cautions ("Just have a good time and be safe out there."), inevitably, she tacks on a smart remark ("Always carry a gun."). It's jarring, this juxtaposition of sarcasm and seriousness.
Don't get me wrong - I loved this book. It's also probably something I'll send off to the relatives at Christmas so they see how much fun I'm having. And how much we drink up here, but you'll have to read the book to see what I mean.

Either for vacation or to live permanently, this book is an insight into the great state of Alaska. Brookelyn did a great job combining humor, wit and truth to some serious subjects that are overlooked from the lowerfortyeightians. Enjoy the book..

This was a present prior to a trip to Alaska. It is beautifully done.. pictures are magnificent.. subject matter is perfect.. written material is well done. I could not praise it more or recommend it more highly. Even if you are not going to Glacier Bay.. it is a wonderful book to own.

Purchased this book to help prepare me for my first trip to Alaska. The photographs are wonderful. I only hope that I see Alaska as beautifully as the photographer has.

We just came back from kayaking for a week in Glacier Bay and this boook captures the place and the experience beautifully! A "must have" book if you've been there to relive the experience or just to feel like you've been there without leaving home. A great book!

We went to Glacier Bay in August 2001 and I can truthfully say that Mr. Kelley's photo's captured what we saw. We never got as close to the brown bear and we didn't see a hoary marmot, but, hey, we're not professionals and we were just there for a week. The glacier shots are so perfect; just open your freezer, put on some warm clothes, look at those photos and save yourself a few thousand dollars in air-fare, etc.

My family has a summer cabin on the outskirts of Glacier Bay National Park, and I have seen the park from both air and water. The book catches every image of Glacier Bay a human being would ever want to see. Those who view this book and then visit the park might even be disappointed, because the park and landscape is so overwhelming that you often get so caught up in the enormity of the country rather than the small elements that form the picture. Anyways, yes, the pictures are fantastic. But even better are the essays. Sherry Simpson is one of the most over-looked yet talented writers in the modern world. The essays she wrote for this book are truly amazing. For more works by Sherry Simpson, pick up a copy of Alaska magazine sometime, she writes for it, and you MUST read "The Way Winter Comes" which is a collection of Alaska stories that are anything but mundane.

In this book, Chris Batin does an outstanding job of covering every aspect of hunting all types of Alaskan Game. The chapters in this book are separated by species, and a hunter can quickly review any chapter before going after a certain species in Alaska, or one can read the entire book to get an accurate picture of the various opportunities available and methods used in Alaskan Hunting. He even includes chapters on small game, upland birds, and waterfowl. No interest is left behind in this amazing resource for those who want to hunt North America's last true wilderness.

I grew up hunting and fishing in Alaska. This is without a doubt the best book on hunting in Alaska that's out there. As a matter of fact, I have worn out my first book and I'm buying a second one to replace it. You won't be sorry with this book; it's a great read.....

This is the most comprehensive book about Alaska hunting out there. Chris Batin is an authority on Alaska hunting and does a good job of educating you in detail on the particular species you may want to hunt. After reading, if you are truly serious about planning a hunting trip in Alaska, I suggest a consultation with Chris too as he knows the guides and the areas. And no, I don't have any affiliation with Chris whatsoever other than reading his book and speaking with him on the phone afterwards.

Excellent resource for anyone researching or going to Alaska to hunt. Chris Batin has covered all game areas to hunt, knows the game animals and how to hunt them. For anyone planning where to go, it should be their bible for research and hunting know-how. Very informative and covers things you should know for safety, survival and succeding in your hunt.

For starting research for a hunt of all species of alaskan game this is one of the best resources out there. After living in Alaska for 4 years, this book gave me the assets I needed to successfully hunt the Brooks Range, Interior and the Penninsula. Highly recommend this to anyone interested in Hunting Alaska. There is a new edition coming out soon.

A beautiful book...snapshots threaded together with lyrical prose, rich and textured. With soul and heart. You'll dog-ear pages, you'll underline revelations, you'll keep it on your nightstand, you'll want to share it with the world...but only if the world gets their own copy. You won't dare part with yours. And you shouldn't.

Without hype or hysterics, this is a memoir of the perfect form. Deceptively simple in its prose structure, the many emotions, the many stories and the many desires build to a very powerful story. A must read for format and for the story.

Peggy Shumaker is an English professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the author of several books of poetry, including Blaze and Underground Rivers. Her poetry background is evident in every carefully sculpted sentence of her memoir, Just Breathe Normally. This book is more than just pretty prose, though. It's a gripping account of one woman's struggle through a potentially life-ending accident and through her chaotic childhood. The wounds are on the body and in the mind. This is a book I will read again and again to decipher how Shumaker makes her magic happen. Clearly, this is a seasoned writer with an intriguing story to tell.

The beginning sets up the hardy Norwegian stock that Shumaker descends from, and, more importantly, the history of women in her family marrying because they were pregnant. In the case of her great-grandmother, a birth resulted in her death, and with her mother, it figuratively ended her life. The impact of this history is felt in Shumaker's decision not to have children and to marry later in life. Sadly, another child almost ended her life; a careless one driving a three-wheeler on the same bicycle path on which she and her husband were cycling.

The title of Just Breathe Normally relates to her mother's lifelong asthma, as well as Shumaker's own problems breathing after her accident. The image of breath ripples throughout. One of my favorite passages is this one about her mother's asthma: "The reason she quit eating. The reason she loved quiet more than her own kids...The reason she didn't want to be here. The reason she left. The reason we buried her breathless." So many passages are lyrical, succinct, and see into the heart of her characters and their situations.

Aside from difficult breathing, Shumaker's life-threatening injuries also resulted in sight and memory problems. This off-kilter feeling is used throughout the book, as well as switching time periods between her accident, present day injuries, and her childhood. This fluctuating time mimics the way memory and breathing work. In trying to piece the details of her accident together to understand it, Shumaker says, "It takes months before my mind can see these nuggets not as separate chunks, but as part of one vein, as story." This sums up her memoir's structure as well, and those little sections add up to a satisfying whole.

The heart of Just Breathe Normally is about Shumaker's unstable childhood with a wonderful, supportive grandmother, and young, immature parents that couldn't stay together. Even though these character types are familiar, each of them manages to surprise throughout. Shumaker is a generous narrator, towards the boy who almost ended her life with his careless driving, towards the mother who neglected her, and towards her absent father. There is no whining about her life or her circumstances, and there isn't a single false note. This is a narrator who knows herself, and her family, and lays it all out for us in rich details and vivid writing.

Her parents' marriage is introduced as My Father's Wives #1; a clever way to set the tone, as well as her father's future marriages. Shumaker describes her absent father as, "We grew around the empty place his absence left in the family. When he was in the house, everybody felt crowded. It felt like having company that hadn't called first." But even the father surprises towards the end of the book.

The section of "Mother's First Words After the Birth" is also powerful:

Because I was her first, no one listened when my mother cried...So I was almost born between floors, my mother clamping shut her thighs, some panicky orderly pinning her shoulders to the gurney. My father, a lanky teenager dreaming of a shovel-head Harley with a suicide clutch, paced...Face to the wall, my mother spoke from far away. "I'm sorry it isn't a boy for you, honey"...Imagine being the woman who would think, just after giving birth for the first time, that. Imagine her saying it out loud to her young man. Imagine her writing it down in the baby book.

Just Breathe Normally is what a book should be: moving and multi-layered. There is a surprise in the ending, which I won't ruin, but after knowing it, the previous passages become even more interesting. Pick up Just Breathe Normally, it just might change the way you breathe, and think.

I thought Peggy has an awesome way of writing..at once a prose poem and then a flowing narrative. I had a hard putting this book down it was very engrossing and powerful. Thank you Peggy for a moving memoir. I really like the poem she quotes at the end of her book--it isn't hers but it very well could have been. I won't quote it here but the poem will stay with me for a long time; I have written it down as not to forget what it says and what it means.

At first glance the simple, short paragraphs trick you into almost missing the very profound thoughts and deep feelings of the writer. This is a marvelous read!

While focused on the ANWR, this eloquent work has broad application. Kaye's careful analysis of what it took to mobilize disparate interests to reach a common goal, and of the constant attention that must be paid even after "success" is reached to avoid the same pro-development forces rewinding the clock, is instructive to every grassroots effort to protect our precious wild places. Well done at every level, and urgently needed as an organizing guide.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has for decades been at the center of the conflict between American needs for oil and nature's preservation, yet until now little has been provided in the way of a comprehensive history of how the Refuge came to be. LAST GREAT WILDERNESS: THE CAMPAIGN TO ESTABLISH THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE covers this history, from the early visionaries who set forth to save an entire ecosystem to the battles which led to the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964. It's a top, recommended pick for any interested in wilderness preservation in general and Arctic or oil issues in particular.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

"Last Great Wilderness is the story of the beliefs and values, the ideas and idealism, and the hopes and concerns for the future that inspired the leaders of the campaign and many of their followers. (LGW, review copy, p. xv) Because the national campaign for establishment covered the period from 1950-1960, Arctic NWR serves also as tracer for the evolution of the Wilderness concept and the 1964 legislation establishing America's National Wilderness Preservation System. The Arctic NWR campaign, in its broadest context, involved many famous names in environmental conservation annals--Olaus and Margaret "Mardie" Murie, George Collins, Lowell Sumner, A. Starker Leopold, F. Fraser Darling, Howard Zahnizer, and others. The foundational vision came from Collins and Sumner, but the Muries helped steer the campaign at critical periods and obtained broad support for the proposal in Alaska, a feat worthy of Hercules.

Make no mistake; Last Great Wilderness will help readers understand the significance of this largest and most threatened refuge in our U.S. Refuge System. The book presents the hopes and dreams of the visionaries who worked so hard and so well for its creation. It presents the compromises that had to be made, and it gives context to the International, scientific, wilderness, fish and wildlife, cultural, and landscape-level ecological values for which the refuge stands, thereby creating a preeminent symbol of freedom, "...freedom from the crowding and pollution of our cities, freedom to continue, unhindered and forever if we are willing, the particular story of Planet Earth unfolding here--freedom for us as well who need to come to the few out-of-the-way places still remaining where we can breathe freely, be inspired, and understand a little of the majestic story of evolution... ."

As conservationists continue the prolonged struggle to protect the Arctic Refuge from oil development and other encroachments, the epic story of the campaign to establish the original Arctic National Wildlife Range, documented in Last Great Wilderness, now provides new inspiration and deeper understanding of why the Refuge should remain protected. This is an invaluable resource for all who will face the battles that lie ahead because in revealing the idealism and values upon which the Arctic Refuge was founded, it provides the most persuasive arguments for keeping it wild. While Last Great Wilderness is a thoroughly researched and authoritative history of the conflict, it is at the same time an absorbing, hard-to-put-down story. Color and black and white historical photos lend interest.

Last Great Wilderness shows how conservation pioneers George Collins, Lowell Sumner, Olaus and Mardy Murie, Starker Leopold, Justice William O. Douglas, and Sigrud Olson united with Ginny Wood, Celia Hunter and other Alaskans to forge a highly effective strategy of grass roots action on a national scale. Their successful struggle set a number of milestones in conservation history: establishment of the nation's first vast ecosystem-scale conservation unit and the first administered as an adventuring ground--a place for the kind of challenging, self-reliant, and exploratory journeys that Bob Marshall had extolled. The Arctic Range exemplified the wild values and recreational opportunities its advocates soon succeeded in enshrining in the wilderness Act of 1964. The victory laid the groundwork for the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).

While Last Great Wilderness is about what happened in the past, like any history, it was written to serve the future. For those who believe the vision, values, and ideals that led to the Arctic Refuge's establishment should guide its future stewardship, Last Great Wilderness will be an invaluable guide. And for those interested in the evolution of the wilderness movement, and especially its influence upon Alaskan conservation efforts, this book is a must-read.

A PhD in wilderness studies, Roger Kaye has been the Arctic Refuge's wilderness specialist and pilot since 1985.

Establishment of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was an epic struggle in conservation and remains a touchstone for many of us that prefer a hearty dose of wildness. In this book by Roger Kaye, the reader gains an appreciation of the place rightfully called the Last Great Wilderness, but perhaps more importantly we learn about the coalition of scientists, sportsmen, and wilderness lovers who were profoundly touched by this wild corner of Alaska and how they struggled to protect it.

The people involved in the campaign to protect what would become the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge read like a who's who of the early conservation movement. Among those described are the likes of Bob Marshall, Aldo Leopold, Olaus Murie, Mardy Murie, George Collins, and A. Starker Leopold. In those early days, no one knew what special designation was fitting for such land or which agency should manage it, let alone how to convince Congress or the President to act on its behalf.

One of the great lessons of this book is that despite long odds, persistence and dedication eventually pay off. Virginia Wood and Celia Hunter, two early Alaska advocates for protection, captured what I am certain was broad sentiment among conservationists at that time and even today, they wrote: "conservation gets so many setbacks...it is easy to get discouraged and feel that individuals or small groups are impotent in the machinations of `bigness' that plague the modern world."

Today, we are the beneficiaries of their unselfish vision and dedication. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is indeed the last great wilderness, stretching for more than 19 million acres - about 9 times the size of Yellowstone National Park - plus adjoining parks on the Canadian side. Roger Kaye's fine book reminds us not only why such an area was protected but why it is vital that we not lose this vision of a place where nature still plays out her natural rhythms in tune to forces yet only partially understood by scientists and philosophers.

What a beautiful celebration of an area under threat. Thank you to the Wards for their focus and drive. We hope to see more work from these talented artists.

So many Americans know so little about this great gift our forefathers have given us - The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The fact remains that this coastal plain supports the highest density of mammals and birds in the arctic. Kennan Ward's book brilliantly helps us understand what's at stake here. The photographs alone are priceless! We believe that it would be a sin to rob future generations of the opportunity to understand this virgin land. Anyone who cares about America's heritage should take time to read this masterwork and understand what's at stake.

It is amazing how this book gives you a personal feel for the animals and their environment. The wildlife is perfectly comfortable and nature performs for Kennan Ward. He has the connection and a gift for capturing nature in its most potent moments. This book is a work of love and pristine beauty! If this land is allowed to be exploited for oil, this could be the last record of this incredible wilderness.

Beautiful photo essay on the Alaska Wilderness with a hopeful bequest to future generations of animals and all who love America's wild places.

Kennan Ward's book contains stunning photographs of the land, plants, and animals of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Mr. Ward writes from his personal experiences as a photographer and naturalist. Kennan published this book to help keep this pristine wilderness area a place of incredible beauty and wildlife diversity. His book makes a strong visual argument for the case of preserving this wildlife area from oil drilling. He does this by showing photographs of the significant environmental impact of oil companies in Alaska. I hope this book will not be a reminder of what the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was like, but instead, what it will continue to be for future generations of people and wildlife that come to this "last wilderness." I would highly recommend this book to any person who would like to learn more about the wildlife and environmental issues pertaining to the Refuge.