Alaska Books

One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey (Annivers

Sam Keith, Richard Proenneke

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 104 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very inspiring book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Excellent book to read. I believe everyone will enjoy this and the story of this amazing person. Easy to read diary-like story of Dick Proenneke's 16-month life alone in a beautiful wilderness of Alaska. Page by page you'll be thrilled to continue on reading and it even gets better at the end. You'll probably stand up and clap your hands to this amazing man.

The Journey 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

One Man's Wilderness; ..... Well written, entertaining , I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys adventure in beautiful Alaskan Wilderness .....

Preserving Alaska's Wonders 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Preserving Alaska's Natural Wonder

Based on the 1960's journals kept faithfully by Dick Proenneck, an archetype of the Sierra Club's advocate, this book presents an amazing story with glorious color photographs. "I don't think a man knows what he can do until he is challenged," p. 211) concludes the man who hewed out a log cabin single handedly in the wilderness. This is a succinct statement of Proenneck's motivating philosophy of personal achievement. Readers follow his non-boastful narrative of trial and error during a remarkable 18-month sojourn in wild Alaska. His survival odyssey (physical and emotional) presents him as the quintessential Mountain Man.

Satisfied to rely on Nature to supply his basic needs (and more contemporary items being flown in at irregular intervals by a cheerful bush pilot, faithful Babe, Proennecke realizes his dreams of carving out a pioneer life in the wilderness near Twin Lakes. Several chapters are quite long but fall into natural, timely categories. I am always interested in How-to descriptions involving caareful planning and manual labor, so I found the BIRTH OF A CABIN chapter fascinating. Even many of his actual tools were made by his own hands, as he started from scratch; his rustic creation is now part of a State Park which tourists may admire 40 years later. The cabin, fireplace and chimney, and cache-on-stilts all bear testimony to his skill and craftsman dedication--proving that a determined man can carve out a hearth after his own heart.

A conscientious chronicler of his own activities (and thoughts) Dick used both his still and movie cameras to capture the cabin in various stages of completion, as well and the flora and fauna of the relatively unspoiled Alaska. With tongue-in-cheek humor he shares his attempts (successful and otherwise) to peacefully interact with the curious or persistent creatures who tried to share his digs and provisions. He seems to feel that critters are a lot like some people-- drawing stoic or amusing conclusions about his attempts to coexist. His gripes with the callousness of humans (seasonal hunters, flown in to bag moose, caribou and Dall sheep) indicate his deep awareness of the fragility of an environment and man's duty to preserve it intact as much as possible--not only out of respect for the animals that inhabit the area, but for future generations of tourists and residents. When he was flown out after his 18-month odyssey he realized that many of the smaller creatures would suffer Hand-Out withdrawal, now that Dick's Welfare was about to dry up. Hats off to a pioneering environmentalist who made us all Aware of Alaska's potential.

Sept. 2, 2008

Editorial Review:

To live in a pristine land . . . roam the wilderness . . . build a home. . . . Thousands have had such dreams, but Richard Proenneke lived them. Here is a tribute to a man who carved his masterpiece out of the beyond.

The Final Frontiersman: Heimo Korth and His Family, Alone in Alaska's Arctic Wilderness

James Campbell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Hundreds of hardy people have tried to carve a living in the Alaskan bush, but few have succeeded as consistently as Heimo Korth. Originally from Wisconsin, Heimo traveled to the Arctic wilderness in his feverous twenties. Now, more than three decades later, Heimo lives with his wife and two daughters approximately 200 miles from civilization -- a sustainable, nomadic life bounded by the migrating caribou, the dangers of swollen rivers, and by the very exigencies of daily existence.

In The Final Frontiersman, Heimo's cousin James Campbell chronicles the Korth family's amazing experience, their adventures, and the tragedy that continues to shape their lives. With a deft voice and in spectacular, at times unimaginable detail, Campbell invites us into Heimo's heartland and home. The Korths wait patiently for a small plane to deliver their provisions, listen to distant chatter on the radio, and go sledding at 44° below zero -- all the while cultivating their hard-learned survival skills that stand between them and a terrible fate.

Awe-inspiring and memorable, The Final Frontiersman reads like a rustic version of the American Dream and reveals for the first time a life undreamed by most of us: amid encroaching environmental pressures, apart from the herd, and alone in a stunning wilderness that for now, at least, remains the final frontier.

Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters

James M. Tabor

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great Suprise 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I am one of those people that is always in the middle of eight books. I start a book, somewhere along the way I pick something else up, I get busy. this happens to me all the time. Some days I get hours to read other days just minutes - but I read everyday. truly one of my favorite things to do.

This book was something I stumbled on when I got my Kindle as a sample, it is something that is completely out of my normal realm. I am not an outdoor person, not a climber and have never read or really seen anything on the subject.

But from the first page I was completely sucked in and I couldn't put it down. extremely well written, fascinating story and extremely informative to a layman like me who had zero understanding of anything about mountaineering going in.

Editorial Review:

Winner of the 2007 Banff Mountain Festival Book Awards Grand Prize (The Phyllis & Don Munday Award): "A riveting account of a long-ago mountaineering disaster."—Time

In 1967, seven young men, members of a twelve-man expedition led by twenty-four-year-old Joe Wilcox, were stranded on Alaska's Mount McKinley in a vicious arctic storm. All seven perished on what remains the most tragic expedition in American climbing history. Revisiting the event in the tradition of Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire, James M. Tabor uncovers elements of controversy, finger-pointing, and cover-up that combine to make this disaster unlike any other. Maps, 8 pages of photographs.

The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs And Men in a Race Against an Epidemic

Gay Salisbury, Laney Salisbury

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: W. W. Norton & Company Amazon Marketplace: 55 new & used starting at $3.02

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 42 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Real Dogsledding 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is an excellent historical review of Alaska dogsledding years ago and how a medical epidemic was averted in the early 1900's. Being true, it is remarkable how interesting and exciting fact can be compared to fiction.

Editorial Review:

IN 1925, a deadly diphtheria epidemic swept through icebound Nome, Alaska. The life-saving serum was a thousand miles away, and a blizzard was brewing. Airplanes could not fly in such conditions: only the dogs could do it. Racing against death, twenty dog teams relayed the serum across the Alaskan wilderness as newspapers nationwide headlined the drama, enthralling an entire generation. The heroic dash to Nome inspired the annual Iditarod Dog Sled Race in Alaska and immortalized Balto, the lead dog whose arrival in Nome over a snow-blown trail was an American legend in the making. His bronze statue still stands in New York City's Central Park, in dedication to the "Endurance, Fidelity and Intelligence" of the dogs that saved Nome. This is their story, the greatest dog story never fully told, until now.

Shadows on the Koyukuk: An Alaskan Native's Life a

Sidney Huntington

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

excellent! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

interesting and written in readable and enjoyable language! fingers can't keep up with eyes while turning the pages...

Reality Alaska 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I am an Alaskan. I've read most things "Alaskan". This is the best!

not like his brother 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

It is sad that Sidney Huntingtons book had to be sooo different than his brother's. Jimmy Huntington's book was so much more down to earth.

Wow! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Mr. Huntington's book has painted a vivid portrait of life in this region of Alaska during the early 1900's. Being from the lower 48, I can only imagine the rigors their life required. I look forward to reading his brother's book.

Alaskan life story 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

An entertaining look at the life of a part Athabascan Indian trapper and woodsman, sharing the hard times and rewarding aspects of living in the remote backwoods of Alaska. An entertaining read.

Editorial Review:

In his dramatic autobiography, Alaskan elder Sidney Huntington, half-white, half-Athabascan, recounts his adventures, tragedies, and ultimate success.

Race Across Alaska: First Woman to Win the Iditarod Tells Her Story

Libby Riddles, Tim Jones

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A page turning adventure for all ages! 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Libby Riddles is the first woman to win the Iditarod, which is the Alaskan dog-sled race that covers over 1,000 miles.

As I'm not very familiar with Alaska, I had never heard of Libby Riddles, or the Iditarod for that matter. However, my boss, who is from Alaska, brought me an autographed copy of the book as a souvenir from one of her trips home. I immediately started reading the book and was quickly engrossed in Libby's adventure.

The book is written in journal style. I felt as if I were right there on the trail with Libby throughout her grueling race to the finish. Interspersed throughout the pages are interesting Iditarod facts that help the reader to better understand the life of a musher as well as the ins and outs of the race.

Libby, as well as all the mushers, show an amazing amount of courage and strength. From start to finish, many mushers don't get to shower and exist on an hour or so of sleep every 15-24 hours! Imagine that kind of schedule, coupled with the intense physical endurance they're also experiencing. It was simply mind boggling, but very admirable.

I found this a fascinating read; my only complaint is that I wish it were longer! I wanted the story to continue a little bit after Libby crossed the finish line in Nome!

Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People

William L. Iggiagruk Hensley

Amazon Price: $16.32 List Price: $24.00 Not yet published By: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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Editorial Review:

The inspiring true story of one man's quest to preserve and defend his people's Ilitqusiat—Native Spirit. As a young man growing up on the shores of Kotzebue Sound, twenty-nine miles north of the Arctic Circle, William L. Iggiagruk Hensley learned to live the way his ancestors had for thousands of years. Like a sponge, he absorbed the old stories and sayings, the threads of wisdom passed down through the generations. Though Hensley eventually left Alaska behind to pursue his education in the Lower 48, he carried with him the hardiness, the good humor, and the tenacity that had helped his people flourish on the wild tundra.

In 1971, after years of Hensley’s tireless lobbying, the United States conveyed forty-four million acres and earmarked nearly $1 billion for use by Alaska’s native peoples. The law insured that all the American Indians of Alaska would be compensated for the incursion of the U.S. government upon their way of life. Unlike their relatives to the south, the Alaskan peoples would be able to take charge of their economic and political destiny in the twentieth century and beyond.

The landmark decision did not come overnight. Neither was it the work of any one man. But it was Hensley who gave voice to the cause and made it real. Fifty Miles from Tomorrow is not only the memoir of one man; it is a testament to the resilience of the Alaskan—and American—spirit.

Alaska's Wolf Man: The 1915-55 Wilderness Adventures of Frank Glaser

Jim Rearden

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An Alaskan Hero 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Frank Glaser's story is a real, first hand look at Alaska in the early days. If you love Alaska and the wilderness, this is the book for you. Frank goes into the back-country and his adventures never cease as he traps, hunts, builds, explores and generally just checks things out. It amazes me that he is always so at ease, even in the most difficult of situations. He is the kind of guy you would just love to tag along with (if you could keep up with him!) His stories and accounts bring Alaska to life at a time when few tourists ventured into the back country. Jim Rearden has done a great job in compiling Frank's stories and amazing life. This book has given me a much greater appreciation of a great state...Wonderful Alaska! I doubt if anyone has ever experienced it like Frank Glaser.

If There Were 6 Stars - This Would Be It ! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I read these type books on a regular basis & this one is head & shoulders above the rest. Captivating, interesting, & very informative. Well written & a true treasure. This should be included in the required reading for wolf relocation advocates & "Naturalists". Glasser has no axe to grind, simply tells of his adventures & experiences. I assure you, it is time & money well spent !

Alaska

Nick Jans

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A keepsake memoir of the state's natural beauty. 5 out of 5 stars.
31 of 38 people found this review helpful.

Art Wolfe's beautiful photos and Nick Jans' reader-friendly text blend in a beautiful coffee-table paperback edition of Alaska (1-57061-216-1, $29.95), featuring gorgeous full-page color photos of environments and animals and reflecting the contributors' familiarity with Alaska's many faces. Choose this as a keepsake memoir of the state's natural beauty.

Alaska as Art 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

Whether this book of color photographs accurately shows what Alaska really looks like, I don't know, because I haven't been there yet. But having finished it, I'm planning my trip!

But I can say this is a great book of photographs of nature. Anyone who loves to look at photographs will love this book. Wolfe demonstrates that he is one of the greatest living outdoor photographers. His sense of light and composition is unexcelled. Almost every picture has a strong sense of line, either vertical, horizontal or diagonal. And the range of light is exceptional, often including in the same picture the darkest blacks and the brightest whites.

The handling of sky is as sublime as that of any of the 19th century American landscape painters. I'm certain that there must be plain blue skies in Alaska but every one of Wolfe's skies has clouds that are fleecy, or glowering, or mysterious. And the light that falls on the landscapes illuminates them with a strange beauty whether casting deep, hard-edged shadows that make a rugged peak look even more majestic; or soft shadows that fall across a brush-covered hillside and create a subtle modulation of green; or the red rays of the magic hours of dawn and dusk.

Occasionally his pictures take on a strange abstraction that requires a careful examination to discover what one is looking at, like the pictures of white ice floes on the surface of an inky-black river or the network of crevasses on a glacier with a few spots of emerald blue in the white field, where the snow has melted into a pond reflecting the sky.

Wolfe is a master of color field photography. Consider the brownish, grayish web of fine lines with several smears of white across it that resolves into a portrait of musk oxen with white horns and muzzles. Or the white arctic foxes in the snow with a bare hint of orange on their undersides. Or the receding green hillsides distinguished only by differing textures with a tiny browsing caribou in the foreground.

The text by Nick Jans is sometimes overly poetic and almost unnecessary given the photographs although explaining just what it is that makes tundra tundra has some interest. However when I turn the page to see just the top halves of the heads of two fierce little owls peeking at me with yellow eyes hidden amongst a row of wildflowers in the Arctic Wild Life Refuge, words disappear from my mind.

Most people agree that Alaska is one of the last great wildernesses and that we are unlikely to see anything more exciting in our lives. Art Wolfe has captured the excitement of Alaska. He has also captured the excitement of great photography.

Editorial Review:

Over 130 images paired with essays from Nick Jans record the splendor of this great American wilderness. From intimate singular images to hauntingly beautiful landscapes, Alaska finds new expression under the artful lens of Art Wolfe.

For more than 15 years Art Wolfe has been documenting Alaska, from the rainforests of the Southeast to snow-shrouded mountains to the northern expanses of the Brooks Range and beyond. Wolfe brings a painters sensitivity to light, pattern, and composition in his photography of landscape and wildlife, and Alaska is his personal vision of a truly awesome landscape.

Wager with the Wind: The Don Sheldon Story

James Greiner

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good book 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Good book if you are interested in Bush Pilots in Alaska and flying.
Don Sheldon was a fearless, dedicated pilot.

One of he best 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Don Sheldon was one of kind, and one of the greats of Alaska aviation. He was a pioneer without doubt on Denali. A good job by author James Greiner. If you liked this book, you will also like,

FLYING NORTH SOUTH EAST AND WEST, by Captain Terry Reece This book covers not only Alaska aviation, but polar expeditions, cargo flying world wide.
Flying North South East and West: Arctic to the Sahara

Editorial Review:

Don Sheldon has been called 'Alaska's bush pilot among bush pilots', but he was also just one man in a fragile airplane who, in the end, was solely responsible for each mission he flew, be it a high-risk landing to the rescue of others from certain death in the mountains of Alaska or the routine delivery of supplies to a lonely homesteader. Read this book to learn how a hero was born, and also how he made his courageous journey to the unknown skies of dealing with cancer.